Hogwarts Year Four
by Medico69
Summary: What awaits Harry and friends this year? It will be exciting, and maybe messy, but the kids will have fun. Look for pranks and such. Will Malfoy show his a** again?
1. Chapter 1

**Hogwarts Year 4**

**Chapter 1 – Summer part 1**

A week later the five friends got together at Potter Manor to discuss the upcoming summer session. Harry had spent the past week visiting his properties to check on how things were going and to see if he needed to do anything to help. He had also visited his Aunt Petunia, when he knew Vernon was at work, to catch her up on the past school year. Dudley had overheard them talking and actually showed an interest when he heard about the werewolves attacking the school. In return for Harry telling her about the year, Petunia told Harry a few stories about his mother growing up. These stories were great as they allowed Harry to know more about his mother. Harry even showed Petunia a few simple spells that he thought she could cast and she demonstrated how much she had progressed with practice. Harry left that day feeling a lot better and knowing a few more things about his mother, like any son should.

The five were sitting in the library looking over the schedule for the summer term when Hermione asked what the group thought about inviting a few of their friends from Hogwarts to join them at Peaks. "I've been thinking about what Daphne said on the train. You know how we have three houses represented in our group and that she would like to make it all four. That got me to thinking about some of the other people at Hogwarts and I thought that a few of them could benefit from a summer session. I thought of three right off the bat, but of course I can't say anything unless we all agree on the idea."

"I think it is a great idea, and I know who I would like to invite" Luna added.

Everyone thought the idea was a good one, what else would they expect from Hermione? Harry added he didn't think inviting any of the Slytherins would be a good idea, not even Daphne, since they really didn't know them that well. Everyone nodded at that idea.

"I would suggest Ginny Weasley; she is smart and I know she can keep a secret, just look who she lives with – the twins" Luna said.

Neville asked if either Luna or Susan knew of anyone in their houses who might be interested and could keep a secret. Both girls thought for a few seconds but couldn't come up with anyone they would trust with that knowledge. Then Hermione suggested the Weasley twins, she said the twins plus Ginny were the three she had thought of at first.

Harry agreed that the twins had pretty well proven themselves as to keeping secrets, and their pranks took a lot of imagination and skill to pull off. But he saw one problem with the three Weasleys, Ron Weasley. If they invited Ginny, Fred, and George, but left Ron out it could cause several problems and more hard feelings. Even if they just invited one it would be the cause of hard feelings on Ron's part due to his being left out.

Sirius spoke up then, the kids hadn't even noticed him walking in, and said he might have a solution to their problem with Ronald Weasley, if they were interested. It was Hermione who said "Sure, go ahead and tell us; we need some help on this one".

"Well, if I remember correctly, someone mentioned that Ronald was a Cannons fan and I happen to know someone who owns 51% of that team who might be persuaded to allow Ronald to attend their youth summer camp. Now if it was me, I'd be looking to unload that team since they haven't had a good season in many years. Oh the guy makes a little money each year from the team but think what he could make with a team that actually won a few more games. Of course then you run into the problem of the cost of the camp and the Weasleys are proud and won't accept charity from anyone. Of course, if Ronald won that trip then they couldn't say much could they?" Sirius explained.

"But won't we run into the same money thing with Ginny and the twins? They won't be able to afford the trip, tuition, supplies, and stuff without help, and like Sirius said they won't accept help." Luna added.

"How about this, what if they won a scholarship for the summer term based on the recommendation of one of us? Do you think that might work?" Susan asked.

The six people talked about this idea and it was decided that each major house would sponsor one of the Weasley kids. They would have Peaks send the bill to a special account at Gringotts where the houses would deposit the money, much like the Potters did for Hogwarts muggle-born students. The discussions were interrupted by an elf coming in to say there was an owl waiting for Harry. Harry retrieved the note it was from Ragnok, he needed to get in touch with Hermione concerning bank business. Harry was confused why send the note to him if it was meant for Hermione. Harry shrugged and returned to the room and handed the note to Hermione.

An hour later, after Hermione talked with her mom on the phone,Hermione, Lucy, and Harry arrived at the VIP portkey area at Gringotts. Ragnok asked Harry to wait outside but Hermione insisted he stay. "I must apologize Ms. Granger, but it seems we made a mistake. When we confirmed your heritage we overlooked a long abandoned vault that belonged to your ancestors, it was just recently that this vault was brought to my attention. It appears that you have an ancestry vault and the worth is G5,000,000, with interest. You can claim the vault today, but you will have to have your magical guardian sign also until you reach the age of majority in September. Yes, we know of the time compression you have gone through and your adjusted age." Ragnok explained.

Hermione supplied the drop of blood and she and Lucy signed the forms. While they were there Harry made arrangements for the special account and deposited his share then and there, Hermione added an equal amount to cover the Black portion. Now all they had to do was tell Neville that the account was created so he could put his part in. When the three returned to the house they brought everyone else up to date and Neville said he would take care of his part the next day as his Gran had to go with him. Now it was time to go have fun outside.

Two days later when Ron Weasley received the notice he had won a free trip to the Cannons summer camp and was to catch the train on June 19th and return August 7th. You could hear Ron's yell of excitement for over a mile away when he read the letter. Meanwhile, Arthur Weasley was getting a visit from Sirius at work.

"Arthur, I wanted to come by and see if you have time for a cuppa and talk to you about something that come to my attention that I think you will find interesting" Sirius said as he walked into Arthur's office. The two men went down to the canteen and while they were drinking their cuppa Sirius told him about the offer for his three kids to attend a summer session of extra training free of charge, thanks to a scholarship they had been recommended for. Sirius told Arthur that he would like for Arthur and Molly to come to dinner the next night at his house and discuss this opportunity before saying anything to the kids, if Molly didn't mind a free dinner. Arthur called his wife and then told Sirius they would be ready at 6pm the next night as Sirius had to come pick them up due to security.

The next night Arthur rushed home from work so he could get ready to meet Sirius at 6pm. At one minute to six, Harry and Sirius stepped out of the floo at the Burrow to pick up Molly and Arthur Weasley. The four didn't wait long before leaving as dinner was waiting, but Sirius left one of Harry's special portkeys at the Burrow in case of emergency. "This portkey will take all of you to a safe place and I will come to you. Please do not use it unless it is a real emergency as these things are costly" Sirius explained just before they left. Sirius escorted Molly and Harry escorted Arthur to 12 Grimmauld.

After a supper that Molly and Arthur had never had before, BBQ-ed ribs, the four went into the library to discuss the opportunity that was being offered to the three Weasley children. Sirius explained that it was he who arranged the trip for Ron so as not to leave him out of some fun. Harry explained why the three kids were being offered the opportunity to attend the special session, "My friends and I suggested Ginny, Fred, and George for this because we thought they would benefit the most from it. Ron wasn't suggested due to his poor study habits and the way he participated in classes at Hogwarts. We just didn't think he would make a good impression. Hermione and I have gone there for the past three years, Neville for the past two years and we all enjoyed ourselves and learned a lot and that helped us in Hogwarts" Harry explained.

After asking several questions that were answered by both Harry and Sirius, Mr. and Mrs. Weasley said they thought the kids could go if they wanted to, but it would be their decision. Harry said that was great but it might be best if Ron didn't know, Mr. Weasley agreed quickly. Harry gave Mrs. Weasley the applications and forms for her to fill out, but she would hold on to them until the surprise could be presented to the three. It was agreed that Arthur would take Ron to work with him in two days and Harry would come over and tell the other three about the offer and explain what they could expect at this summer session.

Ron had not a clue why he was going to work with his dad but he was told to do it, or he could stay home and de-gnome the garden by himself so Ron went to work with dad. Harry stepped out of the floo at the Burrow about 10am and found Molly and Ginny waiting, but no twins, it turned out the two boys were still in bed. Harry said he would take care of that and went upstairs, there was soon a loud explosion followed by the two boys coming downstairs quickly. Harry followed behind them smiling and laughing. Molly asked what had been blown up and Harry said nothing, just a nice loud sound that threw the two out of bed and got them moving before another one occurred. Ginny was laughing so hard she fell out of her chair.

"Okay, Ginny, Fred, George I came here today to offer the three of you a chance to go with me this summer to a special summer training session. This is the same session Hermione, Neville, and myself have gone to for the past two years. This was Hermione's idea and I like it, it was she and Neville who suggested you three. Classes start on July the 5th but you have to be there by 6pm on the 3rd, at least the three of us do. You three need to be there earlier to be tested to see what classes you qualify to attend and to get your supplies. Most, if not all, of the supplies are not available in Diagon Alley. The catch is that I have to know today if you want to go so I can get the paperwork to the headmistress so she can plan for the session. I guarantee you will have fun and learn more than you think possible in the short amount of time, I know I did. Now I will try to answer some of your questions, but try to keep them on subject" Harry explained.

The first question was where the classes were being held, Harry said that was a surprise but transportation was being provided so no worry. The twins asked what were some of the classes and Harry answered, "Transfiguration, Charms, Potions, Defense – both magical and non-magical, Magical Aides, First Aid, and Warding. Plus there is usually some sort of special class offered as a seminar."

"Defense, you DADA?" Ginny asked.

"Nope, the way classes are done there really isn't any 'Dark Arts' except for those in the field on Necromancy like creating zombies and such. The defense classes are to teach you how to defend yourself both magically and non-magically. Think of what Hermione did to Malfoy without using her wand, or what I did my first year to Malfoy when he challenged me to a duel. Fred and George will enjoy Defense as part of the course is to attack other students in your class to help test their defenses, and you will be attacked also. You are limited to simple hexes and such nothing dangerous; it isn't uncommon to see someone suddenly hanging upside down, then they have to defend themselves and get back down by their own devices. It can get very funny, unless you are the one hanging first; it happened to me several times." Harry replied.

Molly looked concerned until Harry explained that all you had to do was run in the dinning area or a restroom and you were considered safe as no attack was allowed in those places or your dorm after lights out. He did caution them to wear something under their robes, just in case. "Don't be like Malfoy and just wear underwear, you know how he got caught too many times" Harry added.

"Oh, there is one thing you need to be prepared for and that is elemental magic. Magic dealing with the four basic elements, Earth, Air, Water, and my favorite Fire." Harry said as he created a ball of fire and had it hover above his hand. "That's not hard" one of the twins said. "But Harry didn't use a wand" Ginny answered. Now there were four set of eyes on Harry's fire ball as it disappeared only to reappear over Fred's head and then move to Ginny's arm and "walk" up it without burning her.

"Fire elemental magic. Some people can do the same thing and more with the other three elements." Harry added as the ball went away. All three started begging their mother to let them go and Harry said they needed to fill out the applications. Molly reached behind her and brought out the three signed applications and said they each need to sign them and give them to Harry. After he had all three applications Harry thought to tell Ginny that there was one class she was required to either take or test out of, Household Magic which included cooking and recipes like the one their parents had enjoyed the other night. Molly said she wanted Ginny to take that class just for the recipes as the meat the other night was great and she wanted to know how to do that herself.

"Oh, before I go this doesn't need to be mentioned to Ron, we don't need him getting jealous and telling everyone about this since it is a secret and is to help you in school. How do you think I get such good grades?" Harry said. The three were told to pack lightly, personal care items, underwear, two changes of clothes – muggle type, socks and one pair of shoes. There was a 25 pound limit per person and they had to have room for their supplies and equipment. Harry explained that if they wanted to bring a personal broom then they would have to have a permission slip signed by the flying instructor and their head of house at the school, plus a parent or guardian.

That was when Molly said that Bill was going along as a guardian to sign last minute paperwork, besides he wanted to meet that professor Harry had mentioned and promised to introduce him to. Harry smiled and said that would be great since Prof. Grimstead had mentioned hearing of Bill also. So it was settled, Ron would leave on Sunday and a week later these three and Bill would come to the house to spend the night before leaving for the special session.

It was Sunday afternoon when Sirius, Hermione, and Harry showed up to collect the Weasleys, and they were waiting both excitedly and nervously for them. Sirius explained that he would take one twin and Bill, Harry would follow with the other twin, and Hermione would take Ginny since she was lighter in weight. "But how are we going if we don't use the floo?" Ginny asked. Sirius said they would apparate since Harry had his license. This proved to to start many questions as to how Harry had a license and Harry just pulled out his International License and showed it to the Weasleys. "This is one of several secrets that you have to keep to yourselves. You will see and hear many things on this trip and most of them can't be mentioned anywhere around Hogwarts." Sirius said in a very serious tone. The Weasley children said bye to their parents and they all went outside to leave. When the seven landed in front of them was a set of gates with a large "P" on them that Harry, Sirius, and Hermione just walked towards and they opened on their own. "This is another secret; welcome to Potter Manor. I'm sorry but the grounds are under anti-apparition and portkey wards. So we have to walk up to the manor." Harry said. All four Weasleys started asking questions but were told to wait until they got inside.

Once inside they were greeted by several elves who took the Weasleys bags and Harry lead them into the sitting room and offered everyone tea or cold drinks. Once everyone had something to drink Harry and Sirius explained that after Sirius was granted custody of Harry, Harry had claimed his inheritance and gained access to Potter Manor and very few people knew of this and it was not to be mentioned outside the grounds. Harry explained that as soon as the the others got there they would all go shopping for some appropriate clothes for the Weasleys to take with them so they would not stand out while traveling.

Neville, Susan, and Luna soon came in and were introduced as the rest of the group going to Peaks. When Bill heard the name of the place he said he couldn't believe they were going to America for a month. Now the other three Weasley were even more excited. After they finished their drinks it was agreed that Hermione, Susan, and Luna would take care of Ginny, Harry and Neville would each take a twin, while Sirius took Bill shopping for clothes. But this time they would take a vehicle so as to be able to carry all the items back easily since they would be in muggle London. The vehicle they took was a nice van and everyone was looking out the windows as they drove, or rather Hermione drove as she was the only one who knew how.

Unknown to the Weasley crew, the others had already decided what would be needed by their charges. The first item on everyone's list were comfortable shoes and a pair of running shoes. After that the girls went one way and the guys went another, they were to meet back at the snack area in two hours. Sirius, Harry, and Hermione each had a charge card connected to the special account to use to pay for the items. Once everyone was back they enjoyed an ice cream, though it was as good as that in Diagon Alley, then loaded their purchases in the van and headed back to the manor for supper. As soon as they got back all the items were taken by the elves to be washed, folded, and packed for the trip the next day.

They had supper outside, since it was so nice, and more was explained about Peaks. The Weasley trio was warned that they were expected to workout with the others each day before breakfast. "A strong body means stronger magic" Luna added when the Weasleys frowned about the workouts. All of the new kids were surprised when Lucy walked out of the house to join them. "Alana sent word that she needed me again this summer so I'll be joining you. Besides we need someone there to try and keep this crew out of trouble. Are they going to be sorted there or here Harry?" Lucy asked. Harry said he was going to let Alana sort them, it would be more fun to watch that way.

It was early, much too early according to the twins, when everyone was awaken and told breakfast would be in 30 minutes and the shuttle left in an hour and a half. The Weasleys were still half asleep when they sat down to a very large breakfast, but were told it was the last meal until supper except for maybe a quick lunch somewhere. All four Weasleys were surprised when they got to the airport and Sirius collected all the Weasley wands, just to be safe and prevent the odd question when they arrived in America.

* * *

**A/N: Okay, they are on their way to Peaks, now the fun can begin for the newest members of the Envied Eight. This is the correct copy of chapter one!**

**Please be kind and comment**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hogwarts Year 4**

**Chapter 2 – Summer part 2**

A short nap, a long ride in an uncomfortable seat, and a very small snack and Harry was ready to do a little walking or at the least able to stand and pop his back. It would have been so much nicer to just have flashed to Peaks instead of flying in a plane. Even the Weasley family was ready to get off the plane. They were landing and it was time to think about how they were going to finish the trip to Peaks. As soon as they got off the plane Harry saw a young woman holding a sign "**S. Black Party**" he pointed her our to Sirius. The woman told them to collect their luggage and she would meet them outside the terminal.

Harry, and the rest of his friends and newbies, were glad all they had to worry about was their backpacks which Harry, Hermione, and Sirius had spent the time to enchant to be bigger inside than outside and semi-weightless. So they were able to follow the young woman directly to the waiting vehicle, a very nice American van with tinted windows was waiting at the roadside. They put their "luggage" in the back and climbed in, Lucy got to sit in the front with the driver. Before they even pulled out the driver introduced herself as Milly and asked that there be no magic on the way to Peaks as it tended to disrupt the charms on the van. That was their first clue they had the right person.

When they arrived at the school Milly said that the bags would be taken care of and for them to just go inside and meet with the headmistress. Alana was waiting just inside the door and greeted the group very formally and guided the group into a nearby classroom. Once the door was closed things changed, Alana smiled and told Sirius it was nice to see him again and then turned and gave Lucy a hug and said she really thanked Lucy for helping out again.

"I am Alana Grimmore, the headmistress of Peaks School of Magic, for those who are visiting for the first time and I want to welcome you to our school. Harry, Hermione, and Neville it is so nice to see you three again and I hope this summer is a little less nerve-racking, at least for me; no more shacking the school just to keep me on my toes Harry. Now I see we have four new faces instead of the three I was expecting, but we can deal with that in a minute. Usually this chore of greeting new students is taken care of by one of the staff, but since it involves Harry's friends then I wanted to do it myself. First things first, Harry would you mind introducing your friends so I can get the correct paperwork done and then I'll explain things for our new students." Alana said in welcoming.

Harry introduced each of the Weasleys starting with Ginny, when he went to introduce the twins Alana just waved her hand and each boy had his name in red on his forehead, Alana said she had dealt with twins before and wasn't going to be fooled again. When Harry introduced Bill Weasley Alana commented that Grimstead wanted to meet the young man before classes started.

"Okay now that we know each other lets get the explanations done and get all of you to your rooms so you can unwind after your long trip. As I'm sure either Harry, Hermione, or Neville have told you this session is for 30 days regular time, but you receive credit for the full 300 days compressed time. One of the staff will meet you three Weasleys in this classroom in the morning at at 8am to start the evaluations so we can determine what classes you qualify to take. I will sort you into your houses today so you will know where to find your belonging and where to rest your tired bodies."

"At Peaks we deal in all forms of magical education except Necromancy or anything to do with dishonoring the dead. While here you will be exposed to, hopefully, many new things and skills. We stress mind magics and wand-less magics here so be prepared. Our courses are based on elemental magic, hence the four houses of Fire, Air, Water, and Earth. Your head of house will explain this further as it relates to you. We ,once again this summer, will offer a few extra credit seminars such as the ones Prof. Grimstead is doing on warding and wand crafting. There has been one change this year in that we now require all females to take or test out of Basic Household Charms, I even had to take the exam for that one.

"Now we will start with Ginny and get you three sorted, unless Bill wants to sign up real quick then it would be four to sort. Ginny on the desk you will find four rods of Elemental Summoning, pick one and give it a wave. But please aim it away from the rest of us just in case you get a strong reaction. Do each rod once and I will note where you belong." Alana explained to the newest students.

Ginny picked up the first rod and waved it, nothing; she did the next rod and a stream of water came out. She tried the third one and got the smell of flowers, the fourth rod gave her a nice bit of fire. Next it was Fred and he got the best reaction from Earth and George got a small whirlwind. Alana offered to let Bill try and he produced a roaring fire, that Harry put out quickly.

"Okay, let's see, Ginny goes to Water, Fred goes to Earth, and George goes to Air; and if Bill was a student then he would go to Fire with Harry. You five returning students know where your rooms are so maybe you can show the Weasley crew where to find their rooms. I will see all of your at supper and Sirius can I have a few minutes of your time please." Alana concluded.

"Sirius, the approval for the mastery programs came through and we will start offering them next summer. I really want some sharp students in that first class so I may need your help getting Harry, Hermione, and Neville to volunteer to take those courses. It may sound petty, but I want to rub Dumbledore's nose in it by having those three get their masters here at Peaks. Harry is sure to get his in Defense, Neville has a lock on Herbology, and Hermione either transfiguration or charms, if not both. Will you help me convince them?" Alana asked and Sirius said he would do everything he could to help.

That night at supper the Weasleys were surprised to see the way the dining area was setup, small tables seating four to six people instead of the long tables used at Hogwarts, and a buffet instead of the food just appearing. All four Weasleys said Ron would have passed out trying to sample everything on the buffet, even if some of the items were unusual to them. Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Susan sat at one of the four-tops while Luna and the Weasleys sat at another. Bill, Sirius, and Lucy shared another one close by, but not too close. Before they left to go to their dorms Harry said they should all meet here at 5:30am so they would have time to workout before breakfast and all the testing. Sirius laughed at the groans from the three Weasleys as Lucy said she would be there too.

At 5:30am Harry was waiting when the other eight came in. He explained that they would show the Weasleys how to warmup before they started their run and lead them outside. After stretching for 10 minutes they started the run, Harry suggested the Weasleys do at least six laps, or 1½ miles, while he intended to do 20 laps and Hermione was intending to be there with him all the way. The first lap was a slow and easy pace, at least to everyone but the Weasleys, but the rest were at a good clip as the more experienced students lapped them several times. Harry and Hermione did the full 20 laps plus a cool-down walking lap. Neville, Luna, and Susan did 12 laps and the Weasleys made it for 3 to 5 laps before falling out, only to be yelled at to walk around and not just sit on the ground as their muscles would start to cramp. Harry and Hermione even had time to do about 10 minutes of Tai Chi before they all went in to shower before breakfast.

After breakfast Lucy took the Weasley trio to start their testing and had Hermione, Luna, and Susan come with her to test out of the basic household charms, it turned out that Luna was the only one to test out and Hermione and Susan would have to take the course, along with Lucy. Harry and Neville showed Bill around the school and ran into Grimstead who was surprised to meet Bill and all but insisted that the two of them spend several hours together to discuss wards,Grimstead did insist that Harry join them. Neville said he was going to play with Rocky and maybe do some flying while he had a chance and catch them at lunch.

Harry, Bill, and Grimstead spent three hours sitting under a tree talking about wards and Bill was surprised when Harry looked at some of the runes Bill had copied that he couldn't break and wanted Grimstead to suggest a solution. Harry told him the reason he couldn't break them was because they were in Parseltounge but weren't near as strong as the ones in the chamber. That got the attention of both Grimstead and Bill very quickly and it took a while for Harry to explain things. At lunch Sirius returned the wands to the Weasleys and said he was sorry he forgot to do that sooner. Fred, George, and Ginny complained that those tests were hard and they still had the practical to do. Luna gloated over the others about not having to take the household course, but she was smiling the whole time and so were Hermione, Susan, and Lucy.

Alana stopped by and asked if Harry and Hermione were going to help out again that summer in some of the classes and they both said they would if they had time, so Alana asked Harry, Hermione, and Neville to stop in and see her after lunch sometime. The Weasleys were now asking what classes they helped out in but never got an answer. After lunch the Weasleys returned to testing, Bill walked off with Grimstead, and Harry, Hermione, and Neville went to see Alana.

"Come in you three and have a seat. First off I have something for each of you and this should have been done way before now. For the past few years you three have helped out in several classes but I messed up the paperwork, now the accounting department is on my ass about it. So I have here a check for each of you to cover the time you spent helping out as teaching assistants. I also have an offer for each of you, first Neville; I was surprised when I learned that your Herbology instructor pulled a fast one and gave you the OWLs test for your final last year so you have an O+ OWL score to your credit. Also Neville you are not allowed to take fourth year Herbology, the instructor insists that you take sixth year so you can be challenged better and he is threatening to have you sit your NEWT in that course this year if you do well." Alana explained to a very surprised Neville and friends.

Neville received a big hug from Hermione and a pounding on the back from Harry for that accomplishment. Next up was Hermione and she too was surprised at what Alana had to say. "Hermione, based on your scores in Transfiguration and Charms I would like to offer you a chance to assist me this year for first through third year Transfiguration classes. Of course you will be paid for each subject you assist in, so that would be Flying and Transfiguration. That means you will receive a check after classes are over for about the same amount as the one you just got." Alana continued. Hugs and congratulations were again abundant.

"Now to Harry, my troublesome student, I offer you the same as I offered Hermione except I want to ask you, on behalf of the instructors, to help out in Defense, Charms, and of course Flying. Also I have two more offers for you, one learn the needed knowledge to get certified as a referee for Quidditch and two Grimstead wants you to do a special course so he can certify you in both wards and wands. Of course this means you get paid for each course you help in. Sirius let it slip that all three of you are animagi and I have to have a picture of your forms for your records, that form will be registered when you graduate – but only here in the States it is up to you what to do about England. The school photographer will do the pictures before classes start, if you have more than one form you are only required to register the one you deem primary and don't have to mention any others." Alana continued. Now it was Harry's turn to be hugged and pounded.

"Now you will hear about this next item again at the opening feast, but I wanted to talk with you three before that. Starting next summer Peaks will offer mastery level courses in Transfiguration, Charms, Defense, and Herbology. I want you three in those courses since it will be a trial program and I want to stack the deck so to speak and put our best foot forward. We might even get to offer Potions if we can find an instructor, but those are hard to find. You know we only deal with international levels here so those masters will be recognized anywhere you go. I ask that you three think about this as if possible I want to see Neville in Herbology, Harry in Defense – at least, and Hermione either Transfiguration or Charms – if not both. I have that much faith in you three" Alana finished. All three were surprised to say the least.

As the three got up to leave Alana asked that they let her know about the courses they wanted to assist in as soon as possible and to keep the other things a secret, a big secret. "I'm going to kill Sirius when I see him" Harry commented with a smile as they walked down the hall, Hermione said to leave some for her too; all three laughed. The three soon became five when they met up with Luna and Susan. Hermione told the two girls about the required photos and why, all three girls said they hoped they kept their clothes, especially if the photographer was male.

It was Sunday night and all the students were in the dining hall at house tables, Sirius and Bill had already left to return to England. Alana stood and welcomed all the students and explained about the changes and the upcoming mastery courses. It was after supper and Harry asked all of the "Brits" to remain behind. "As Alana said you three will get your schedules tomorrow morning after breakfast, you already have your supplies so that won't be any problem. But I wanted to remind you all that what happens here at Peaks stays at Peaks, some of the things you might discover even the adults in our group don't know about yet. The five of us had a deal and now we need to include the three of you in that deal, we don't discuss anything outside our group with anyone else. Any special abilities are the property of that person and not to be revealed by any of the rest of us. As an example, I can call a fire elemental without the use of the rods, but none of the others will reveal that fact to anyone. If they can do the same thing I am not allowed to say, only they can reveal that kind of information. I have been told that Bill signed your broom slips before he left so all you three need now is to have the flying instructor and house head sign and you can use brooms from home if you brought them, but that is just a formality since I know how well you three fly. I don't intend to be a prat about this but it is important to keep our secrets and I will see you all at 5:30 in the morning" Harry finished much to the groan of the Weasleys.

Harry ended up taking Transfiguration, Charms, Defense, Wards, Runes, and Potions. He would be helping in Defense, Charms, and Flying. Hermione was taking the same except she dropped Potions and Wards, and added Arithmancy and Spell Creation. She would be assisting in Flying and Transfiguration. Neville was taking Herbology, Transfiguration, Charms, Defense, Potions, and teaching first year Herbology as a credit course. He would help where he could. The rest of the "Brits" were taking the basics except Luna who was taking the same courses as Hermione and Susan added Magical First Aid as a seminar along with Harry and Hermione.

"All first time students, except first years, need to make an appointment to be tested on brooms and certified or else you will have to take the basic course. We will be offering an advanced course in flying but the class is by instructor permission only, and I have been told that to qualify for that course you have to out fly the instructors. I will apologize to our eight British students but today is when we Americans celebrate kicking you off the continent almost two hundred and fifty years ago. Now you have a free day so enjoy yourselves and be ready to hit your classes running first thing in the morning" was the announcement that Alana made that Monday morning as breakfast ended.

The first three members of the advanced flying course were all named Weasley surprisingly. The Weasleys were very surprised when they found out they had Harry and Hermione as instructors, that was when they noticed the badges both wore saying Assistant Instructor with Flying as one of the ranks. There were a total of six students in the advanced class, but Ginny wasn't the only girl. There had been two more girls try to qualify but when they saw what was being taught they dropped out quickly.

Neville was sore, the others had learned of his position as instructor for first year Herbology. His back hurt from all the guys pounding on it, his neck was sore from Hermione, Luna, and Ginny hugging it, and his lips were sore from Susan's kisses – but he didn't complain about those. The twins were surprised to find that they were in 3rd year transfiguration for the first three weeks and that Hermione was teaching part of the course on animagus transfiguration. That was when they learned that Hermione was already an animagus, but when they saw an eagle change into Luna and a badger change into Susan they fell out of their chairs. The twins ended up in the infirmary when they saw Harry's phoenix, they had passed out from shock.

Harry was stressed, but pleasantly so, by the work he was doing with Grimstead. He had been assigned to make new wands for the Weasleys all by himself, they would be tested by Grimstead once finished before being given to the threesome. And based on their wands, if they were approved, he was to test and create staffs for them and provide basic instruction in staff usage. Harry told the three that he needed their help for one of his classes and he would ask each one separately to come help. The first up was Ginny, she was chosen by Elm for the wood; Fire Crab shell, dragon heart-string, and mermaid's scale for the core. George ended up with Hickory with an eagle feather, and Thestral hair core. Fred would get Oak with his core being Granite and Centaur hair. Ginny's wand would be the hardest to make that was for sure.

Harry finished Fred's wand first and Grimstead said to have Fred test it. The wand worked better than either Harry or Fred expected. Any Earth based spell was almost double in strength. George was next and once again the results were more than expected so George's Air based spells were awesome. Now it was time to do Ginny's wand, the hardest one Harry had ever attempted. Harry finally got his third try passed Grimstead, when Ginny tested the wand she was thrown back by the power of the Aquamenti and the Incendio spells when she cast them, even Grimstead was amazed by Ginny's wand and gave Harry full marks for all three wands.

The staffs would have to wait as the coming weekend was the first of two warding seminars that Grimstead was giving and Harry was required to go to both, the first as an assistant and the second as a student. During the first seminar Harry found out that as an assistant he had to preform the simple basic wards to demonstrate them for the attendees. He was asked to explain each ward after he had done it, as to what it did and how it did its job. Bill Weasley was there for the seminar too. The wards Harry had to demonstrate ranged from very simple to moderate difficulty, nothing harder than what you found in all basic home wards. Then Harry had a week of classes, regular classes and classes he assisted in.

It was Saturday again and the next warding seminar would start in a couple of hours and this time Harry was to be more student than assistant. Bill Weasley showed up early, he had been sent to this seminar by his boss at Gringotts. This seminar would cover moderate wards to difficult wards like you might find if you were a curse breaker like Bill. Harry took several pages of notes and the material was very interesting. Grimstead had demonstrated some of the wards that he had encountered in his lifetime, if you couldn't set the ward it was doubtful you could break it. It was now the last day and the seminar had only been attended by 10 people, including Harry. Grimstead said there would be a special session after supper for the top five attendees, and that included Harry and Bill.

Grimstead gathered Harry, Bill, and three curse breakers, one of which did wards as a business, and took them to an abandoned house that Harry recognized. "Here we will use this old house for each of you to set a prescribed set of wards on, I will test your wards then we will attempt to break each others wards. We will from oldest to youngest" Grimstead explained. Each participant was given his set, he set them, Grimstead checked them, and then each person tried to break them. Harry broke each set up to Bill's turn at showing how to set wards. None of them had been able to break all of Bill's ward, this was a five layer ward, until Harry tried. Harry made the wards show themselves, nothing new to this group, then studied them for a few minutes and undid them – all of them at once.

Grimstead just smiled as he had Harry explain how he had broken that set. Harry said he saw where they all tied together and received their power so he just simply untied them the knot and this caused the whole ward to unravel. Bill was shocked, that was a strong ward and Harry had made it look easy. Now it was Harry's turn to set a ward on the house and he was handed a piece of paper telling what was wanted and how many layers. "At least 9 layers to include your basic home protection. The 9th layer can be any ward you want, but at least one KILLING layer. Use your wand only".

Harry worked for a while and the ward was finally set. Grimstead walked around the house after asking Harry "how far?" so he would know how close he could get without tripping the killing layer. Once finished inspecting the ward Grimstead asked Harry to write down each layer, but keep it hidden. Each person in the group was given a chance to identify and then to break the ward. Bill asked to go last, but that honor belonged to Grimstead. By the time Bill got his chance the outer three layers were gone. Bill puzzled for a few minutes then started in on the ward, he bypassed two more layers but could go no further. Then Grimstead stepped up, Harry thought for sure his ward would fall completely. Grimstead puzzled for a few minutes and poked and probed the ward carefully. He then removed the next layer, but was stopped after-wards when the whole ward started flashing bright red indicating danger. The whole set reactivated and Grimstead admitted defeat.

"Okay Harry, I want you to look at each person's list of layers and tell us who got them a correct, or most correct. Nobody got them all, they all had to skip at least one layer - even Grimstead. Harry handed his list to Grimstead and he was surprised when Grimstead started to laugh. "You sneaky boy, you set one layer in a different language, that was the one nobody could identify. It would appear that you did 10 layers instead of the 9 I asked for and you set the killing layer as a last resort. Good job. Now who is keyed into the ward?", Grimstead asked. Harry said only himself. And walked into the house, pausing only a second before opening the door and entering.

When Harry exited the house Grimstead told Harry to remove the complete ward as they didn't want someone killed if they happened on the house. Harry took out his staff and canceled the complete ward. Now a couple of the people objected that Harry had set his ward using a staff, thereby giving it much more power. Harry had to swear on his magic to convince them he only used his wand. Grimstead said that concluded the seminar except for one thing, from somewhere he brought out a framed certificate and gave it to Harry in front of all of them. The certificate showed Harry James Potter as a Journeyman Warder and was signed by Grimstead.

Everyone in the group shook Harry's hand or pounded him on the back. Even the most disagreeable member told Harry that he was welcome to to test his wards anytime anywhere, if Grimstead said he was a Journeyman then that was enough for anybody to accept just about anywhere in the world. Harry was shell-shocked. Bill Weasley just smiled brightly as he shook Harry's hand a second time and told Harry that now he could set wards just about anywhere and charge for them – as long as gave Grimstead a part of the proceeds.

When they got back inside the school Grimstead asked Harry to come to his office with him for a few minutes. Once they were inside Grimstead asked Harry which ward was his personal ward as the killing ward was the inner most. Harry said it was the one Grimstead couldn't get through, it was in Parseltounge and complex as it reset all layers of the overall ward back to active or recast any missing parts. Grimstead told Harry he wanted that one in English by the end of the week to study as he had never thought to do something like that to a set of wards. Grimstead reached into a drawer and handed Harry two more frames, the first certified Harry as an apprentice staff craftsmen. The second certified Harry as another journeyman in wand crafting. "That means that you can charge for any wand you make and you are required to give me 25% of the profit. It also means that you have to have me inspect any wand over three cores, or you can get it inspected by Ollivander if that is easier. I can tell you now that I have only made about 3 four component wand cores in over fifty years. After making wands for five years I will replace that journeyman certificate with a masters certificate, but you have to 3-4 wands each of those five years and charge for them" Grimstead said.

"As to the staff certificate it will be upgraded if all three of your staffs pass inspection and work, whether or not the kids can use them themselves. That is also what you have to do to pass the special program you are in with me. The same deal applies to staffs, 25% of the profit comes to me. But you only have to make 10 staffs in five years and some of them have to be four or more cores. Now you better get to bed tomorrow is a school day." Grimstead said as he smiled.

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**A/N: Sorry it is taking so long to get through the summer but I have a bit to cover in my head before the kids go to Hogwarts again. As to your questions about Dumbledore, they will be answered once the kids are back in school [ evil grin ]. The summer school is about over, except for the staffs and a few other minor items, so the next chapter should finish up the summer and get the kids ready to return to Hogwarts.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hogwarts Year 4**

**Chapter 3**

Three weeks before the end of term and Harry had Ginny's staff ready, at least he hoped so as it still had to pass Grimstead's inspection. Grimstead said it needed testing by the young lady so Harry grabbed Ginny one Saturday and asked her to come and test her staff. Harry brought the staff out and explained to Ginny how to activate it. He handed it to her and asked if she could tell which end was the base and which end was the top? Ginny played with the staff for a few minutes then held it upright in her hand and said she thought that was the way it went. Harry took a good look and saw she had it correct, Harry smiled at her, way to go Ginny. He then walked her through activating the staff again then stepped back and had her do it. The staff glowed briefly and so did Ginny.

"Okay Ginny lets see if you can use it, I am sure by now you have learned a few wand-less spells. Pick a simple one and try to cast it, don't force the spell just cast it gently as the staff will boost the spell. You might want to use a water based spell since that is your strength." Harry explained and then stepped back and started to glow slightly. Ginny shot a stream of water about 50 feet and Harry never heard a word. "Well done, now levitate one of those rocks, remember you don't have to do any wand movement – just cast the spell gently." Harry said and stepped back again.

Ginny and Harry worked with the new staff for almost an hour before Harry said it was enough. Grimstead only said "You need to seal that staff and personalize it before she takes procession". Ginny and Harry went and sat down under a tree and Harry opened the staff and asked Ginny to place three drops of blood in specific places and closed the staff again. Harry told Ginny he would have her staff ready just after lunch the next day and they would meet in the dinning room then go pick up the staff.

Once they were back in Grimstead's office Harry asked how to seal the staff as he had never done that. Grimstead handed Harry a small vial and a small amount of powder and told him to mix them together. Harry was then shown how to create and fit end caps for the staff. Once the caps were made runes were inscribed inside the caps, one for the top and one for the bottom. Grimstead told Harry the staff had to be sealed before the caps were placed on it and it need any last minute finishing, inscribing, or cleaning before sealing. Harry took a few minutes and sanded off a couple of rough places, then adjusted the stand so that the staff would rest on the caps and not the finish while it dried. The sealant was applied, starting with the ends, the caps placed and the staff was left to dry overnight. Grimstead told Harry that the leftover sealant was good for five days before it became unstable and did more harm than good.

Harry asked again how to make the sealant but Grimstead said if the staff turned out right then he would share that knowledge, because then Harry would be ready to learn how to seal his creations. Harry understood that since he had been told before that this was a family secret. Harry bid Grimstead goodbye and said he would return the next day to pick up the staff.

The next day Harry showed up early to check the staff, it was ready so Harry took the time to carefully polish the staff before Ginny arrived. Harry and Grimstead met Ginny at the area where staffs were tested, and the whole group was there. Harry called Ginny forward and started to explain basic staff handling again.

"Ginny, you need to think of the staff as a living intelligent object, this staff has feelings and ego. If you treat it right and care for it you will have a loyal friend to help you when you need it. This staff has been tied to you and you alone, it contains a part of you. Take the staff, orientate it correctly, ground it and then to claim it saying 'I Ginny Weasley claim this staff as my own and bind us together. Activate!' you can use Ginny or your full first name it makes very little difference. Let me step back before you claim it just in case." Harry gently instructed Ginny as she took the staff from his hands.

Harry stepped back and started to glow slightly as he watched Ginny follow his instructions. When Ginny claimed the staff both staff and Ginny glowed for about 30 seconds. Grimstead noticed that a shield had appeared between everyone and Ginny during the claiming, smart boy that Harry, he thought. Harry approached Ginny and asked if he could see her staff for a minute to check it over. Ginny said he was welcome to check the staff or use it anytime since he was the creator . Harry took the staff and ran his hand over it then stepped back and went through a few simple staff forms from his martial arts and pronounced the staff ready. Once again Harry held the staff out to Ginny with both hands and said "Ginny I present to you this Grimstead-Potter staff, the first of its kind. May it serve you well. Now I need to explain a couple more things; nobody should be able to touch this staff without your permission, if they do the staff will react and defend itself, you should be very careful who you allow to handle this staff freely – after your statement a few minutes ago I am allowed to use your staff without asking, that isn't good. Now here are two spells, the top one shrinks the staff and the bottom one expands the staff. You need to practice these so they become automatic. I suggest you get another wand holster for your other arm and carry the staff there, after shrinking it of course, so it will always be handy. This staff has to remain a secret at Hogwarts, only use it there in a serious emergency to defend yourself, your family, your closest friends, or in defense of Hogwarts herself."

Harry told her to go practice with her staff, get the feel of it and really make it hers. Ginny was surrounded by her family and friends as they congratulated her on the staff ownership. Harry walked over to Grimstead to receive his evaluation all Grimstead said was "Full marks, well done, you have passed you special course with flying colors". Harry was called over to the group and saw that everyone who had a staff had theirs out and he was asked to show his staff. For the Weasleys this was the first time seeing Harry's staff and they all were surprised to see the runes on it and they glowed. The eight kids stayed out there for a while and worked with their staffs, except the twins they had not been able to connect with or use a staff so they didn't get to keep them.

Harry met with Grimstead later that week and was given a small sample of the powder, "Harry I hope you are good at potions as you must determine how to make this yourself. Just as my father did for me, you have to figure it out and change it so it becomes your own creation. Here are two smaller samples, each is enough to do one staff with a little left over." Grimstead explained.

It was the night of the final feast and Alana stood to make the end of term announcements. She announced the winning house and then continued to announce the student standings. Hermione took top in spell crafting for her year and received a certificate for her work as an assistant instructor. Neville took top in Herbology school wide and received his certificate also. Then Alana called Harry up, "Staff, students, and guests Mr. Potter here over the session taught an advanced Flying class, assisted in Charms and Defense, participated in two Warding workshops – one of which was an advanced one, he also took part in a special course. In recognition of his participation I have been asked to publicly present him with these certificates, the first is a certificate of Journeyman for Warding, the second is another Journeyman certificate for Wand and Staff Crafting, the third is a Certificate of Appreciation from the school and a full scholarship for next summer. I would also like to mention that, without his knowledge, Mr. Potter has obtained an O+ NEWT score in Defense, Charms, and Transfiguration so he will not have to sit those exams again. I think he deserves a round of applause for these activities" Alana concluded and the room went wild with applause for him, and Harry blushed.

The next morning at breakfast Harry and his group found Sirius and Bill waiting when they came down. Each of the group was congratulated for their hard work since Bill had already received the scores for his brothers and sister, nothing below an A, but mostly Es and a few Os. Bill had heard about Harry's awards from Lucy that morning and offered, or rather asked, to work with Harry on wards sometime.

After breakfast Ginny asked that everyone come outside as she had something to show them. Ginny lead the way to the staff testing area and brought out her staff and demonstrated her use of said staff. Bill was amazed since nobody used a staff any more, but Ginny explained that her staff, made by Harry, made her even more powerful and her spells more effective. Bill asked if he could hold the staff and Ginny said he could, after looking at the staff he passed it to Sirius who received a shock for not asking Ginny's permission and dropped the staff. Nobody touched the staff until Harry picked it up and gave it back saying she should take better care of the staff, everyone laughed - except Sirius. Sirius said that once again there would be no after school trip because he had box seats for the World Cup Quidditch match and they were all going – if they wanted to that is.

As they were leaving the school Hermione said she needed to stop at the magical shopping area to pick up something not available in Diagon Alley. They made the stop and while everyone else looked around, mostly at brooms, Hermione and Ginny went off by themselves since Hermione said she wanted Ginny's help. When the two girls returned Ginny showed her new holster that Hermione had gotten her and asked Harry if he would show her how to use a two place holster similar to his own when they got back home, Harry said he would be happy to do that.

A tired but happy group of people disembarked the plane in London to be met by Molly and Arthur Weasley, Augusta Longbottom, Amelia Bones, and Petunia Dursley – which was a surprise for Harry. After many welcome backs and a Weasley group hug everyone moved to the wizards area and took the floo to their homes. They had agreed to meet in two weeks at the Weasleys to leave for the world Cup. Harry decided to ride home with Petunia so they could catch up and Harry could tell her about the summer.

Harry received a letter from Molly three days later telling him if he knew what was good for him he would be at the Burrow at 1pm to fix this mess you caused and to come by floo! Harry showed the note to Sirius who said "the twins?", both laughed and agreed that was most likely the problem. Sirius left for work and Harry spent some time converting a small part of the basement to a workshop for wands and staffs since he still needed to make a few more to satisfy Grimstead.

Harry stepped out of the Weasley floo at 1pm and was "attacked" by Molly. "Come out back and see what you have caused. I have never seen such a mess before in my life" Molly said loudly. When Harry walked out the door he was surprised to see all his friends and their families and a big **HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY and NEVILLE** sign. This was a late surprise party for him and Neville. There was a large cake with birthday wishes for both boys and it was decorated with Snitches and plants. Molly said some of the presents needed to be opened before the others arrived since they didn't need to know about summer school and those activities.

Neville got a set of books on Herbology, masters level of course, a new work apron with his name stitched on it and the word INSTRUCTOR, plus a new broom. Harry got a set of masters level books on Defense, Charms, and Transfiguration, a smock that said POTTER WANDS and STAFFS on it, and all three of his certificates in really nice frames. The group had fun for awhile, but the cake wasn't to be cut until the rest showed up. The others invited showed up at 5pm along with Arthur. Molly explained that Harry and Neville had showed up early so the party wasn't as surprising as planned. Harry and Neville received several more gifts from the new arrivals and the party was a huge success and fun.

It was 6am and everyone going to the World cup was outside the Weasley house, Sirius was holding a long rope portkey so there would be room for everyone to grab hold, even Ron was going. Molly said she wasn't going as someone needed to stay and keep the place up and she had some new recipes to try out. The portkey activated and they were off. When they got to the site they were shown to their tents, it took three tents to house them. The kids wondered around to sight-see since the match wasn't until the next day. Harry, Hermione, and Ginny found a quiet area that was away from the rest and Harry and Hermione worked with Ginny on using her holster with her staff and her new wand, Ginny would carry her Hogwarts wand on her right and the Peaks wand and staff on her left.

It was after supper when Arthur Weasley pulled Harry aside and thanked Harry again for taking the three kids to Peaks. Arthur said he knew Ginny wasn't supposed to let anyone know about the trip but he had come across her practicing with that staff and had been amazed at what he saw. Now he wanted to know if it was safe for her to carry the staff all the time, especially to Hogwarts. Harry told him it was safe as long as she obeyed the rules set down and only used the staff to defend herself, her family, or her closest friends. "But what if someone got the staff away from her, that could be dangerous" Arthur said. Harry told him that IF that happened that person was in for a very big shock since anyone touching the staff without Ginny's permission would cause the staff to attack them and the staff could not be used against Ginny except to physically strike at her. Harry suggested that Arthur ask Bill and Sirius what happened when Sirius touched that staff without permission.

Everyone enjoyed the game the next day, the only thing bad was that Fudge was close to them and kept making a fool of himself with the Bulgarian Minister. It was Bulgaria against the Irish with the Bulgarian seeker being Victor Krum. Krum was world famous as a seeker and preformed some very amazing moves. Krum caught the snitch but the Irish won due to points, Bulgaria just didn't have any chasers good enough to match the Irish. After the match everyone was happy and having a good time.

It was early, about 2am, when everyone was awaken by loud noises. At first they thought it was the Irish still celebrating but soon found out different. It was a group of five Death Eaters causing the noise as they spread havoc throughout the camp sites. When a spell came too close to Hermione for comfort she got mad, which made Harry mad, which also caused Neville and Ginny to get upset. The Death Eaters found themselves having to deal with several elementals, Fire, Air, and Earth, plus many multiple spells all at once. When all the excitement was over Hermione had to calm Ginny down and tell her how to release the stored energy she had built up. Nobody but Sirius, Bill, and Arthur saw a thing that the kids had done; everyone else was too busy running and hiding. The five Death Eaters were caught and found bound with chains and ropes and stunned when the aurors showed up. Harry had to wonder "How many of these idiots are left?"

The kids had a week and a half until they returned to Hogwarts and Harry spent most of it going to see his properties, visiting his Aunt Petunia, and collecting wand and staff components. He had shown Petunia a few more spells and recipes, he had had a decent conversation with Dudley and even showed them both a few "tricks" while Vernon was at work. Harry's component collection included multiple samples of the most common woods, each one labeled as to where it came from and the particular tree marked, a selection of common cores and a few special cores. He had also bought the materials needed for end caps, things like gold, silver, iron, and such as they had to be pure or they would distract from the staff.

Harry worked on breaking down the powder Grimstead had given him so he could determine how to recreate it and hopefully change it so it was more his own compound. Harry had also purchased several silver pins to be used to collect blood for the staffs, and maybe wands too, to personalize them. When he got to Hogwarts he would ask Hermione to help design a billing form for him to use to record who bought what and to keep track of what he owed Grimstead.

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**A/N: Well, it is time to return to Hogwarts for another year. What adventures await Harry and friends this year? Will they make new friends? Will Malfoy be an a** again, or show his? And what happened to Dumbledore last year? These questions will be answered once I decide what to do with them.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hogwarts Year 4**

**Chapter 4**

The time was 5:30am , Harry sighed, in six hours he would be on his way back to Hogwarts, but now he was going for a run and then spend a little time doing Tai Chi to center himself. Life was good right now as far as Harry Potter was concerned. As he ran Harry thought back to a second talk he had had with Arthur Weasley, a talk that included Ginny and Ron Weasley, a talk that cleared the air about Molly Weasley and her plan to pair up Ginny and himself and pair up Ron and Hermione, a plan that failed. By the time this talk was over Harry was sure someone was going to be on the receiving end of Arthur Weasley's displeasure; whether it was Molly or Dumbledore made no difference to Harry.

Two hours later and the shower felt good, Harry knew the breakfast that was downstairs would be excellent. The sun had come up and it was a bright clear day outside and he had finally cracked the compound that Grimstead used to seal and protect wands and staffs. He didn't have the portions correct yet but he knew what was in it, and as soon as he found out who the potions teacher was this year he would know if he could get some help with that problem.

At 10 AM it was time to floo to platform 9¾ to put his trunk on the train and to meet his friends for the trip to Hogwarts. What nobody but Harry knew, was that it was possible to portkey into and out of Potter Manor if Harry made the portkey for outgoing or if he used his Potter House ring for incoming. Okay several people knew about the ring, but he was the only one who could use it, for now. Harry had made and used a portkey earlier to deliver his wand and staff supplies to the chamber and return to the manor.

There weren't many people on the platform when Harry and Sirius arrived so it was easy to load his trunk and select a compartment, enlarge that compartment, and lock that compartment so that only an heir could access it for now. Hermione and her parents arrived around 10:15, and Neville and his Gran got there at 10:30 followed very shortly by Luna and Susan with their parent or guardian. The five had their trunks stored and their personal items in the compartment and were waiting for the Weasleys to arrive.

Harry noticed Draco and his mother enter the platform and it appeared that Draco had a new wand, again. That reminded Harry of something he wanted to, or needed to, do; that was learn how to detect wand composition in someone's wand he didn't make. Harry knew Ollivander could do that and he suspected Grimstead could also, now he needed to learn how to do that. Something told him that skill would come in handy soon.

The train would leave in 5 minutes and still no sign of the Weasleys, but they always arrived at the last minute. They always "just made it". Sure enough there they were with four minutes until the train pulled out and it didn't wait for anyone, or anything. When Ginny, Fred, and George poked their heads in the compartment they asked if maybe Ron could join them for a short while. The five agreed to this with reservations, as Ron's being there limited conversation about Peaks. "um Harry is there any way to limit, umm, people hearing what we talk about for a few minutes?" Fred asked. "And maybe keep people from coming in or noticing us?" George added. "We all three threatened Ron if he so much as thought about what he saw in here for the short time he is here", Ginny added.

Harry looked around and cast a silent, but very strong, privacy charm on the door then added a notice-me-not on top of it, that was when he saw Ron had a black bag over his head so he couldn't see a thing. Harry looked at Ginny and she mouthed "Told you". "Okay, what is the secret?" Hermione asked. The twins, Ginny, and Ron told them that there had been a huge fight between their parents about the illegal use of love potions. To make matters worse, Bill had been there and jumped down his mother's throat too. "But, Bill got so angry that he mentioned this summer and what you all did for us, so Ron now knows some of it. Bill said to tell you he was sorry but he got so mad it just slipped out" Ginny said finally. That explained why Ron was in the compartment, Harry thought.

Harry was only partly correct in his thinking. "Harry, I know I've been a prat the last few years and I do apologize. But is there any way you, all of you, might consider letting me go with you next year? The twins and Ginny explained that the only reason they got to go was because you guys recommended them and stood up for them. All I'm asking is that you think about it, you've got all year and maybe I can prove I'm worth the risk." Ron said and it sounded real.

Harry looked at all the rest of the occupants of the compartment, and they all nodded. "Ron take off that stupid bag and join the rest of us. Everyone agreed to think about your request, but I can tell you now that you will have to show you are able to hold your own in classes. You will have to do your own homework, we will help but you have to do the real work and not just beg to copy someone's papers. I may get hit for this but, if you start coming on to Hermione, or any of the other girls, I will make you pay dearly. No matter what THEY may do to you." Harry said with a very serious tone.

Ron said he understood and would behave himself. Harry canceled the charms on the door with a wave of his hand, Ron saw this and closed his mouth to keep his foot out of it. Daphne stopped by to say hello and give them some gossip, it appeared that Draco and Pansy weren't together any more she hadn't even tried to enter Draco's compartment. After Daphne left Ron made a mistake and asked why a Slytherin even came in or why they let her. That got Hermione going, "Ron look around this compartment and what houses do you see? I'll tell what you see, Gryffindor, Ravenclaw, and Hufflepuff but no Slytherins. If we are to unite the houses we have to include Slytherin, Daphne may be that Slytherin – or at least the first one to be included in our little group. Your opinion of our friends is one of the things that will have to change. I'm not saying all Slytherins are good, but with the exception of Malfoy,Nott, and Flint, they aren't all bad either. If you don't like someone just because of the house they're in that is wrong. If you don't like them because of their actions or personality that is acceptable to me."

Ron left soon after that and the rest talked about what had been going on since the World Cup. Ginny said she was doing much better with her staff, as far as changing size and getting it out of her holster. The twins said they had applied some of what they learned and had come up with even better jokes to play at school. But the twins said they had a bone to pick with Harry, why were they always found hanging upside down more than anyone else at Peaks? Harry told them maybe it was payback for their actions at Hogwarts or maybe it was to teach them to be more aware of their surroundings. Everyone had a laugh at that one.

Malfoy did try once to come in but the sight of that many Gryffindors was more than enough to convince him it might be a bad idea. Harry asked if it would be hard to get in touch with Bill as he wanted Bill's opinion on some wards he was working on. Ginny said she could always write to Bill and arrange a meeting sometime. That reminded Harry of something and he warned everyone that Dumbledore had a habit of monitoring people's mail so to be cautious as to what they wrote and if something needed to be sent secretly to give it to either Hermione, Neville, Luna, or Susan for now. But not to him as he was watched too closely for it to be safe.

The cart lady came by and sold her biggest sale to that compartment. When they were about 30 minutes out from Hogwarts the girls went to change while the boys used the compartment to change. When everyone was back Neville asked why the girls didn't just put their robes on over their other clothes. Susan explained the girls also took time to freshen up and use the restroom.

The opening feast went as usual until it came time for the announcements, Dumbledore stood and gave the usual ones, stay out of the forest, the list of forbidden items had grown, and such. Then the problem came to the forefront, Dumbledore apologized for not being there last year when the school was attacked by werewolves, but he thanked the staff for their defense of the school. Dumbledore said at the time he had been out of the country setting up his next surprise, Hogwarts was to host the Tri-Wizard Tournament this year and it was the first time it had been held in over fifty years. But on a sad note he added that due to the tournament there would be no Quidditch this year. He said more information would be forthcoming at a later time. He announced that Ms. DuPrie had returned for another year as head of Slytherin and Potions instructor; Remus Lupin would be replaced by a different instructor due to prior commitments and the new DADA instructor should be arriving shortly.

The announcements were cut short by the sound of a siren going off outside, Harry and crew knew what that meant – another Death Eater had been caught by the wards. The students were told to stay there while the staff went to see what was happening, of course Harry slipped out too. He had guessed correctly, there in the wards was a man but there was no Dark mark showing. That was Mad-eye Moody the retired auror, why was he here and why had the wards captured him? Hogwarts answered his question without being asked, the man was under polyjuice potion and the mark had been detected anyway. _"Here I thought I might __have a quiet year"_ Harry thought as he slipped back inside to tell the others.

The man wasn't released until after the polyjuice wore off and it was discovered that it was Barney Crouch Jr., but he was supposed to have died while imprisoned in Azkaban. When the fake Moody's trunk was inspected the aurors found the real Moody locked inside one of the compartment, with a supply of polyjuice in another compartment, the polyjuice potions mysteriously disappeared later that night only to show up in the chamber. Dumbledore didn't understand at all what was happening at his school. He would have to see if maybe he could get Remus to come after all.

Harry and the heirs were informed by Fawkes what had been discussed in the headmaster's office, the missing potions wouldn't be discovered until morning. Fawkes also verified that Dumbledore had been out of the country when the attack occurred, mystery solved. The five discussed the Weasleys and it was decided that they wouldn't be allowed to know about the heirs or their quarters yet. It was decided that they should have access to the chamber, if that was okay with Harry since it belonged to him. Harry agreed to that since it would give them a place to practice without drawing attention.

When Harry and Neville got back Ron was awake and came over and whispered he needed to talk with them quietly and quickly. Harry drew the curtains around his bed and put up privacy wards. "Listen guys Seamus and Dean are getting on to you two disappearing at night and are starting to ask questions. I thought you should know, I know you won't tell me where you go and really can't blame you, the way I've always acted and all." Ron said. Neville said he had an idea and the problem would be taken care and both Harry and Neville thanked Ron for his warning. The wards were removed and everyone went to bed.

In the girls dorm Hermione was visited by Ginny who said basically the same thing about Hermione's roommates, Lavender and Parvati. Hermione said she would have to see what could be done about them. Ginny went back to her own room then. In Ravenclaw there wasn't a problem since once again Luna had moved out of her dorm room and back into the heir's quarters. Susan just said she was with her boyfriend and left it at that.

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**A/N: The kids are back at Hogwarts and the Dumbledore mystery is solved. Now how to handle the questions by roommates? Who will teach DADA? Questions abound and answers are few right now. But I will find the answers soon, like in chapter 5. **

**Please be kind and comment**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hogwarts Year 4**

**Chapter 5**

Harry was up and downstairs ready for his run after just a few hours sleep . He was soon joined by the rest of his seven friends. The group did their stretching and then started their run, Neville came up beside Harry and said he had an idea about the situation from last night with their roommates. Harry could just make portkeys for the two of them and they would go to bed, pull the curtains, and leave. Harry said he could do that but would need an hour of privacy without interruption in the room, he suggested that Neville elicit Ron's help keeping the other boys occupied, but wait a few days as Harry needed time to set things up elsewhere.

As Harry and Hermione ran that morning Harry thought that the Weasleys had come much further than expected, they still moaned and groaned about getting up early, especially the twins, but they were there and were up to 3 miles now. Hermione had overheard the conversation between Harry and Neville and guessed what was up, so she said she had a similar problem with her dorm mates and Ginny had been the one to notice the problem starting. The two wondered if Luna and Susan had similar problems that needed to be dealt with.

Harry was surprised to be joined in the shower by Fawkes after his run, Fawkes had information for Harry. It seemed that Dumbledore and McGonagall had had a meeting that morning and Dumbledore couldn't find anyone to take DADA as Remus Lupin was out of the country working, Harry knew Remus was at Peaks, and unwilling to quit his well paying job to come back to Hogwarts. Fawkes reported that it would be a few weeks before the real Moody could take up the class, as planned, and that Dumbledore would have to cover the class until that time. Unless McGonagall could get in touch with someone she thought might help, or suggest someone to help out.

At breakfast Harry noticed McGonagall talking with Ms. DuPrie quietly and DuPrie had a funny look on her face but nodded and left the hall. Dumbledore announced that he would be taking over the DADA position temporarily until they could get someone to teach or Professor Moody recovered. That didn't sound too good to Harry. As the schedules were being handed out McGonagall asked for a minute of Harry's time away from everyone else.

"Harry, since this isn't a formal conversation I hope you don't mind first names, I wanted to warn you that it may be hard to continue our special sessions this year with the headmaster being involved with the students more. I assume you once again got extra help over the summer, as did your friends I am sure. Is there anyone else I need to plan for this year to show more ability than expected?" McGonagall said quietly.

Harry thought for a few seconds, "Yes Prof. you might notice a change in the Weasley twins and Ginny Weasley. They were able to attend some of the same extra lessons over the summer. Ron Weasley decided to attend Quidditch camp instead so he missed the fun of extra lessons."

"I don't suppose you know what lessons the twins were involved in, just so I can warn their instructors" McGonagall asked.

"I believe they did a review of third through sixth year Charms, Potions, Defense, and Transfiguration. I believe they were exposed to the animagus instruction or explanations but failed to grasp that concept completely. I was told they couldn't seem to get a grip on their inner animal" Harry answered. Which seemed to cause some relief on the professor's face.

"And will you and Ms. Granger be doing any personal projects this year?" was the next question asked by McGonagall.

"Yes ma'am, I've developed an interest in rituals and would appreciate it if you could suggest a good reference source or someone who might be knowledgeable in that area. I believe Hermione has the same interests as last year, but Neville is really into mastering Herbology. I might suggest that Prof. Flitwick have a similar talk with Ms. Lovegood as to her interests, and Ms. Bones could use some guidance too" Harry replied just before he was dismissed.

Harry returned to the group as McGonagall continued to hand out schedules, but she paused long enough to tell Hermione that she thought the two of them should meet later to discuss her progress and future concerns. This seemed to upset Hermione, but Harry said he had just had a similar talk with their head and it was nothing to worry about the professor just wanted to get a head start on planning their education in the future. "Oh, Neville I might have suggested to the head that you were interested in 'mastering' Herbology. I'm sorry if I spoke out of line" Harry added. Hermione and Neville both smiled and said it was of no concern.

It turned out that Herbology was the first class and as soon as they walked in the greenhouse Neville was asked to speak with Prof. Spout after class for a few minutes. The class was interesting, nothing new but interesting. Harry and Hermione said they would see Neville in the next class which was DADA and left him to speak with Sprout. Harry and Hermione were the first ones to arrive for DADA, which was very unusual, but it was only a few minutes before the others arrived. This year they would be paired with Slytherin again, what a pain.

Class was supposed to start 1o minutes ago but there was no instructor there yet. Most of the students were talking and fooling around, except for Harry, Hermione, and Neville, those three were looking over the room and their books. "Well Potter trying to get an early start so maybe you won't embarrass yourself with what you don't know?" Malfoy asked as he walked up with a sneer on his face, much like the one Snape used to wear.

"Malfoy, if I were you I would think before opening my mouth. Think about this, who is the instructor for this class? You are always accusing me of being the headmaster's favorite" Harry was saying when he was interrupted by Ron's shout "I wouldn't try that Crabbe, that is my wand at the back of your neck and at this distance even I will not miss".

Harry looked and saw that Ron had his wand pressed against Crabbe's neck from behind, right at the base of the skull. "Ron what is going on, why do you have your wand on him?" Hermione asked. "That is a good question Ms. Granger, but a better one is what spell were you planning to use Mr. Crabbe?" asked Dumbledore as he materialized in the room. Crabbe just mumbled something that sounded like the tickling spell. Malfoy tried to get away but Dumbledore asked him to stay.

"It would appear that this class is indeed lacking in defense skills. Out of all of you students only four were aware that something wasn't quite right, Ms. Granger, misters Potter, Longbottom, and Weasley. They were the only ones who seemed to be prepared for trouble. I noticed that three of these students had wands ready even though they were sitting down. Mr. Weasley saw a possible threat to a classmate and acted to protect that classmate. Each of you four Gryffindors received 10 points, unfortunately the three Slytherins will lose 10 points each for the attempted attack on a student and Mr. Crabbe you have detention with Prof. McGonagall as I don't have time to supervise one at this time. Now if you all will take your seats we may begin" Dumbledore said.

Dumbledore explained that he had been there all the time but wanted to see how the class acted without being watched, and they were mostly not paying attention to their surrounding. Even though Ron was talking he saw the threat before anyone else and acted. When asked what spell the four had ready Harry said his was Protego. Dumbledore then asked, given the short distance did Harry think he would have time to cast that spell before another spell hit him. Harry said he though so, as he put up a shield to block Dumbledore's silent wand-less tickling spell. "While I am against shooting spells against students, I must admit I am impressed with your reflexes Mr. Potter" Dumbledore said as he canceled the rebounded spell that had hit one of the Slytherin girls and asked her to please not be upset. Harry earned another 10 points for that shield.

As the class ended Dumbledore asked that the four Gryffindor students remain behind. "Mr. Weasley might I inquire as to what spell you intended to use on Mr. Crabbe?" Dumbledore asked. Ron said a stunner Hermione jumped in to say that at that distance it could have killed Crabbe. Ron's face fell and he admitted he didn't think of that. Neville jumped to Ron's defense and said it was the intent that mattered and Dumbledore agreed and sent Ron on his way. "I have been informed that when the school was attacked you three somehow managed to get on the roof and rain spells down on the attackers in aide to the instructors last year. While I wonder how you managed to get up there so quickly, I will not question your actions and give you my heartfelt thanks. I understand that some of those spells were very timely and saved an instructor from being bitten, and I wanted to caution you not to get involved in such things again; but I feel I may be wasting my breath." Dumbledore said and sent them on their way.

The next period was a free one so the trio went to their rooms to exchange books before going to the great hall to await lunch. "That was strange, the way Dumbledore acted and talked to us. It makes me wonder if he knows more than we thought. But that did remind me, I am sure you two didn't notice since you were busy, that Ms. DuPrie packs a mean wand when she gets going. I saw her work last year during the attack and she didn't fool around, in my opinion she would be an asset in a fight" Hermione commented.

Harry and Neville agreed that Dumbledore was strange, but his actions and comments were even stranger than usual. The three were soon joined by the other students as they came in to eat. Harry called out to Ron and told him "Thanks for having my back in there Ron, I really appreciated it. If you keep that up and apply your self in classes you should be welcome to spend part of the summer with me. If you really need help in class just ask, like I said we won't do your work but will provide help."

Luna came by and told them that thanks to Harry she and her head had a nice talk and her schedule had changed, she was now to attend DADA with them and so was Ginny. Susan came by and sat with Neville, but she said she too had been talking with her head and things were changing schedule wise to include more she was interested in, like healing. The twins stopped by and told Harry that McGonagall had talked with them and she was cool about it.

After lunch Harry and Hermione had Runes and Harry was again displeased that he didn't learn something new. As Harry was leaving class a younger student possibly a first or second year came up and handed him an envelope that bore McGonagall's handwriting. _"Thought you might like to read these books, enclosed you will find a permission slip for the restricted section. Potions and rituals are sometimes related."_ was all the note said, no signature. That made two reasons to see Ms. DuPrie soon. Charms was the next class and Flitwick was funny as usual, but kept Harry, Hermione, and Neville after class to tell them that it might be more difficult this year to have the extra sessions due to the tournament.

Harry really didn't want to wait until Friday to speak with the potions instructor so he took a chance and went to see if she was free, she was. He found her writing potion instructions on the board for a second year class. "Ms. DuPrie, do you have a minute?" Harry asked and she said to come in and sit she would be finished in a moment. Once she finished and turned a round she had a surprised look on her face, "Oh, I thought you were someone else Mr. Potter. How may I be of assistance?"

Harry told her he had a compound that he was supposed to figure out how to recreate for a special project. He had determined the components but not the proper ratios and was wondering if she would be willing to explain how to find those ratios. Ms. DuPrie thought for a few minutes then said that was covered in sixth year potions but since he asked and showed an interest she would work with him to find the correct ratio for his compound, but they would need a sample of the compound to work with first. Harry told her he had a small amount of the compound to analyze, but he had to be able to reproduce the complete compound soon.

"Mr. Potter you are a fourth year correct?", she asked. When Harry admitted he was, at least here at Hogwarts. She said if he could make the potion that was scheduled for Friday's class then instead of doing that potion Friday he could work on his project. The potion was a simple one and Harry asked when she wanted it, now would be a good time was his answer. Even though she had a class coming she put Harry off to the side to work and told the class if they were as interested as Harry in potions her door was always open to them.

Harry was finished with the potion after 15 minutes of class, it had taken 45 minutes to complete but he started before the class even got there. Ms. DuPrie looked at the potion and said to bottle it and then if Harry had the time to help her watch the class make their potion, and maybe prevent an accident. Harry bottled his potion, he knew that wasn't a fourth year potion but a fifth year one. Then he started to monitor the students in class and he did prevent one accident while the instructor was occupied across the room.

Two days later Harry told Neville it was time to distract Seamus and Dean for at least an hour. Shortly after that Neville and Ron took the two boys out to the library and Harry had the time he needed alone, he thought, until Hermione showed up to see what he was doing. Harry enlisted her help so she would know how to do the same thing in her room. Harry showed Hermione how to set a portkey zone and asked her to do that to his bed while he worked on his own idea for the two boys. While Hermione carefully set the portkey zone Harry placed a ward on Seamus and Dean's beds; this ward would recast a specific spell every night, a spell to make the occupant fall asleep quickly – like in 5 minutes – and keep them asleep soundly for eight hours. He did allow for emergencies so the boys could be awoken if needed, they just wouldn't wake up on their own. Harry finished just a few minutes after Hermione and had to explain what he had done.

The two went downstairs, just sat down and opened their books when the boys returned laughing and cutting up. As the boys went upstairs Harry told Hermione that was close, but if needed then he could still set the same thing on Ron's bed. It wasn't ten minutes later when Neville came down and told Harry the strangest thing, Seamus and Dean had fallen asleep almost as soon as they laid down on their beds, the spell worked! Harry then told Neville what he had tried and Neville agreed that it would better than using portkeys all the time. Since nobody was around the three went into the Gryffindor quarters.

Once inside Harry summoned the books on the list McGonagall had sent him and asked Hermione to copy them since she was better at that spell than him, and much quicker too. That was when they ran into a problem, not enough spare blank books the right size. Harry chose the book in the worse shape and Hermione did the spell. He would get more blank books as soon as he could. The kids only studied for a few hours and then went to bed, Harry did not return the books.

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**A/N: There you go, the kids are at Hogwarts and the fun begins anew. One of my reviewers wondered why I didn't give the twins wands → they are enough problems without two boys blowing up the school**

**Please be kind and comment**


	6. Chapter 6

**Hogwarts Year 4**

**Chapter 6**

It was Friday and that meant that it was potions class day. Harry and friends were up and running, literally, at 5:30, then a shower, then breakfast. Everyone was looking at Harry, and Malfoy had to make a comment, since he had decided to use the backpack from Peaks instead of a book bag. "Hey scar-head, too lazy to carry all you books or is your muggle background coming out?" was the comment, Harry's response was to reach for more eggs and bangers. Then Malfoy made another mistake, as Harry was leaving Draco grabbed the backpack and tried to pull Harry off balance. Things didn't go as planned for Draco, instead of being pulled off balance Harry just spun around and happened to hit Malfoy with a backhand – another bloody nose was to be had. To make matters worse Draco hadn't noticed Prof. Flitwick standing there, Draco started to respond with his wand only to find someone's wand under his chin.

Flitwick asked why Mr. Malfoy had grabbed the pack and why he had tried to use a wand to respond to an accident caused himself. The Prof. deduced 25 points for attempted robbery and misuse of a wand from Draco, then gave Harry 10 points for his quick reflexes and 10 points to Ginny for protecting a fellow student. Then Draco's day got better, his head of house walked up and with a simple phrase made Draco's day, "I will see you at 6pm tonight in the potions lab". Draco was late for class and lost another 5 points from McGonagall.

Lunch was over and now was the time, time to find out much of sixteen different ingredients, seventeen if you counted the liquid, it took to recreate the powder Grimstead had given Harry to work with. Once class started it was announced what potion they would be making that day and that Mr. Potter was to join the professor at a separate table. Unfortunately, the prof. heard a rude comment from Draco "in trouble already, I guess this potion is too hard for Potter" and decided to rectify the situation. "Mr. Malfoy since you seem to think, and that is a surprise in itself, that this is an easy potion, then can you tell me which of the samples sitting on my desk is mine and which is Mr. Potter's? But I warn you if you get it wrong you will spend the weekend in your dorm, except for meals. Or, you can volunteer points to lose, but if I think the amount is too little then I double the loss – I will even write what I think is correct point loss on this piece of paper first" said Ms. DuPrie as she wrote a number on her paper.

Draco looked at the samples and couldn't tell the difference in them so he wrote down 10 points. When he saw the prof. was only going to take 5 points he was relieved, until she said he had donated 10 points so that was what he lost. Several Slytherins were looking at Draco with malaise in their eyes. While the rest of the class started on the potion, Harry and Ms. DuPrie worked at another table. Using the sample Harry had brought she started showing Harry how to disassemble the compound, Harry showed her the results he had gotten earlier. The Potions Mistress got the same results quickly and said now came the hard part, unless they cheated. Harry was shown a spell to get portions and ratios from a compound or a potion, it had to be cast once for each component.

Once they had the correct portions determined the prof. asked what was the catalyst? This compound had to have a catalyst to be of any use. Harry pulled out a small vial of a clear liquid and said that it had to mixed with the powder. He was asked if he knew what the liquid was and Harry replied that it was simple mineral spirits. "That would do the trick, the reaction between several of the components with the spirits would make this a very good sealant that would last a very long time." was the assessment of Ms. DuPrie. Now all Harry had to do was change the compound slightly so it was different but had the same use and purpose. It had taken the two almost an 90 minutes to find the correct ratio of components and the class was almost over now.

As everyone was packing up and Ms. DuPrie was looking over the samples from the class, she asked Harry to come up for a second. "Mr. Potter, I assume you know the ritual that goes along with creating that compound. If not then it is useless and won't even dissolve correctly." Ms. DuPrie said. When Harry said he didn't know about that part, she added "That was what I suspected as this is a very old compound that was once used in many rituals, a few even worked correctly. Would you be interested in learning the rest of the procedure over the weekend? Since this isn't really potion related I can not use class time to instruct you, nor would I want some people to know this ritual as it can be dangerous." Harry thought for a whole 5 seconds before saying he would be very interested in learning about rituals and made an appointment to meet with her the next day at 1pm.

When Harry showed up the next day he had Hermione with him, you very rarely saw one without the other anyway. Ms. DuPrie said Hermione's presence wasn't a problem as she doubted that Ms. Granger would even consider doing dangerous rituals or revealing her knowledge on the subject. Ms. DuPrie lead the duo to an unused room that she had prepared for rituals the night before and that morning. The door was locked with a very complicated series of spells to prevent entry by just anyone. Harry asked why she didn't just use a ward and was told that warding was beyond her skills. Once inside the kids saw that there were actually two rooms or sections. "Mr. Potter you can not use any magic in here other than that created by the ritual and you must cleanse yourself before you begin any ritual. You will go to that room and remove your clothes all the way down to your undergarments, wash with the water you will find there, select one of the robes hanging there and put it on, then you may exit the changing room through the other door. Once you are inside you will see a rope pull it twice and wait for us to join you. Do not cross the red line!" Ms. DuPrie instructed.

Harry entered the room, closed the door, striped to his underwear, washed and robed, and then entered the ritual chamber itself and pulled the rope twice. Hermione was the next one to enter the room and join Harry, she was soon followed by Ms. DuPrie who pulled the rope three times. "That locks the room and enacts several wards on the other side of the wall, I had to get Prof. Flitwick to handle those for me here. Those wards keep the magic inside and won't allow anyone to detect the magic or entry, except the caster of the wards in an emergency." Ms. DuPrie explained. DuPrie then had Harry and Hermione to place several runes on their arms, legs, and faces with a white chalky liquid as he did the same first. Both kids knew enough to make sure the runes were correct and exact, DuPrie was impressed and said so.

The professor picked up several bowls and told the two to follow her into the circle. Once inside the circle she lit candles all around the area and placed the bowls in certain spots, she explained that each bowl contained a component for the powder and they had to be placed exactly or there could be an explosion. She told them which ingredient went where and that the amount of the ingredient in the bowl was in the correct ratio for the powder. Once the bowls were in place she took her position and told the two young people to stand as close to her as possible, but not to restrict her movements and not to make a sound.

DuPrie started the ritual by chanting a phrase several times in Latin as she faced the four compass points in a clockwise order so she ended facing the same way as she started, north. Runes on the walls, floor, and their bodies started to glow, some bright some not so. Then she started to chant again in a different series of phrases in Latin, as she finished each phrase one of the bowls would start to glow. Harry noticed that the order was from largest amount to smallest amount in the bowls. DuPrie went through this series of phrases five times, and each time the bowl glowed brighter and the runes began to "dance" on the walls and floor. DuPrie was starting to sweat and sound tired, but after two or three deep breaths she ended the ritual with a simple, but strong, Finite. All the bowls and runes continued to glow for several minutes but slowly diminished and finally quit all together. The bowls were collected, the candles blown out and DuPrie pulled the rope three times.

"We must all leave at the same time and be quick about it" she said as she opened the door to the changing room. Once the three of them were in the room DuPrie asked the kids to exit so she could change robes and put her clothes on then it would be their turns, one at a time of course. Once all three were changed she lead them back to the Potions lab and had them sit down. "Now you see why rituals went out of style. Once completed the person doing the ritual is very weak and easy to attack. Now we can mix together the components and we will have the powder you desired Mr. Potter. That was one of the simpler rituals, but had I said the charging phrases in the wrong order then we would get a different result when we mixed the components. If one of you would be so kind as to summon us a large glass of cold water each we can discuss the ritual." DuPrie said and Hermione did the honors.

The three sat there for two hours talking about the ritual they had just done and rituals in general. DuPrie's statement, "Rituals are such an interesting subject, they are the very foundation of our magic and a very large part of our history in the use of magic. I got interested in rituals much younger than you, my father was a master of Potions and as such he had to know potion rituals to make some of the most difficult potions, potions long forgotten by most wizards." gave Harry hope that maybe she would teach him more rituals. Hope turned to wishes and wishes turned to fact. DuPrie gave them a brief history of rituals, both good and bad. Rituals had been around before wands and staffs were thought of, it was the discovery of how to make wands and staffs that lead to the decline of rituals as it became easier to do magic without them. Before they left Harry asked if they could get together again and continue their discussions, DuPrie said she would be delighted to meet the next day and help Harry make the powder his own.

Harry happened to notice that at supper Ms. DuPrie ate almost twice as much as he had ever seen her eat, then he noticed he, and Hermione, were eating more too. Rituals make you hungry he thought, very hungry, and he hadn't even been the one doing the ritual. It was later that night that Harry received a note from DuPrie saying to meet her at 9am in the potions room "and bring Ms. Granger as the two of you make such a cute couple" was the last line of the note. Harry showed the note to Hermione and she laughed and said she thought they made a good couple too. Ron got upset as Harry and Hermione's snogging lead to Ginny and Colin snogging.

The next morning Harry and Hermione were at the potions room at 8:50 and the door was locked, it opened at exactly 9am to reveal Ms. DuPrie. DuPrie brought out the bowls from the day before and it occurred to Harry that this wasn't all of the ingredients and he said so. "Very good Mr. Potter, some of the ingredients don't have to be charged with magical energy; in fact the rest won't accept that energy, with the exception of the powdered lodestone but it would take a very powerful person to do that charging and it would have to be a separate ritual" DuPrie said with a smile.

The three of them worked together to combine the ingredients into the powder it was meant to be. They made two batches one to use for testing and one for Harry to use until he improved it and made it his own, but DuPrie said she would not help with that as it was Harry's task alone. They only ended up with a total of one pound of the powder be tween the two batches. That was when DuPrie told them that the charged ingredients had to set for at least 12 hours to stabilize after being charged. They spent the afternoon talking about different rituals.

DuPrie explained that while you could do several small simple rituals in one day each one needed to be done in a different room as the room needed time to "cool down" magically so the magics created wouldn't mix together and react violently. She explained that there were two reasons for her being so tired yesterday, one the number of ingredients needing a charge and two the amount of power she had to exert herself so she could be heard clearly by the two of them. "If I had been doing the ritual for myself I would have whispered the chant to empower the ingredients; as the louder you chant the more power taken from you and sometimes that power is added to the ritual in unusual ways and causes the ritual to go differently than planned. The first chant was to empower the runes and cleanse the room a final time, those must be done loudly and with power." she explained further. It was Hermione who mentioned that the first chants were in Latin and were addressed to the four points of the compass and that the series of chants for the ingredients named each ingredient one to a phrase.

Harry concluded that he could use the same ritual to empower the lodestone powder, but asked anyway to be sure. DuPrie said that it was in fact true but the power needed to add magical energy to a substance that had power was more costly to the wizard. In the case of lodestone it already had power, magnetic power, and you needed to add magical power. She thought Dumbledore might have the power to charge the lodestone powder, but not many else would. Harry asked what would happen if you didn't have enough power yourself and was told the lodestone would be useless, it would just be dirt then. In fact that was considered a "bad" ritual as in old times wizards would do that on purpose to ruin farm land of an enemy because the failed ritual rendered the ground unfit to raise crops for several years. At that point Hermione knew Harry would attempt the ritual to charge lodestone himself just to see if he could.

The following week most of the first year potions class was spending time preparing different ingredients for DuPrie to use in other classes, but most were for Harry to use in constructing his experimental powders. The lodestone powder itself had to be fresh and ground very finely, a good exercise for first year students to learn how to prepare ingredients for potions. Harry, Hermione, and DuPrie got together frequently to discuss rituals and ask questions, they even conducted a few rituals in which Hermione did the ritual herself. But the stronger rituals were done by Harry or DuPrie, even if Hermione had almost as much power as Harry and they soon found out DuPrie wasn't far behind them. It was three weeks later when DuPrie noticed that some of the lodestone powder was missing and only Harry or Hermione had access to that storage area besides herself, besides she found a faint trace of Harry's magic there. DuPrie smiled, she wondered when Harry would try this. But the chamber was undisturbed and unused.

It was a Friday night and deep underground deep under Hogwarts five students sat and discussed an important subject, the three Weasleys. They decided it was time to introduce the Weasleys to the Chamber of Secrets. Hermione would bring Ginny, Neville would bring one twin and Luna would bring the other to the chamber via portkey the next day. Susan and Harry would be waiting in the chamber for them to arrive. Saturday morning the three Weasleys were told to meet their escorts at 9am and where to meet them in Luna's case as they were to be shown a secret they had earned the right to know.

Harry and Susan had only just stepped off the landing zone when Hermione and Ginny arrived, followed closely by Neville and Fred. Luna and George were late, and when they arrived they had a third person with them, McGonagall. This was an unexpected development. It turned out when Harry, Hermione, Neville, Ginny, and Fred went missing McGonagall had ought out George and or Luna and called them to her office, she had not looked for Susan since if Neville was missing so Susan would be.

It seemed that Dumbledore was gone that weekend to finish arrangements for the other two participants in the tournament and she thought it would be a good weekend to give her students some extra instruction. It had been Luna's decision to bring the prof. to the chamber with her and George. "Are we where I think Mr. Potter?" McGonagall asked very sternly. Harry said a simple "yes ma'am". "And am I to assume this is the first time for the Weasleys to visit?" McGonagall asked. Once again a simple "yes ma'am" was the reply.

"Fred, George, and Ginny, welcome to the Chamber of Secrets. This is Ginny's second visit, her first visit being two years ago when she was kidnapped. Since then we have taken over down here and since it looked weird to see boys going into a girls restroom I arranged to have some portkeys made to bring us here to practice. Prof. McGonagall has been here once before and is welcome to visit anytime we are here of course. The red area is a portkey landing zone, you never stand there more than a few seconds as you don't want to be standing there when someone comes in. It would kill both parties. For now you will only be allowed to come when one of us five are here as I need to get you each a portkey made. The portkeys we use are very special and reusable, they bring us here and allow us to return to where we left only. Now usually you can't apparate or use a portkey anywhere on the grounds, but as I said these are special."

"Down here we have a potion lab and lots of space to work on spells, practice spell work, and to study. I will introduce you all to the elves that work and live down here today. You do not have to worry about the snake as she has been relocated out of the chamber and to Southeast Asia, where she is very happy and getting fatter. This is also the place where I make things you already have, except the Prof. Each of you have a special item that I was able to create, except Mione as hers and mine were made by someone else." Harry explained to the newcomers. He did notice the looks McGonagall was giving him.

Harry asked Hermione and the others to show the Weasleys around while he talked to Prof. McGonagall. Once they were gone the two went and sat down in the office to talk. Harry said he thought that the prof had a few questions for him and he was right. The first question was where he got the portkeys, he said the Goblins. The second question was the one he was expecting, what items was he talking about? Harry showed her his staff, but said the twins didn't have one as they couldn't control one. That seemed to please the prof. Harry asked the Prof. a very personal favor, he wanted to hold her wand for a few seconds. McGonagall was reluctant but said he could. Harry took her wand and could feel the magic but was unable to tell what it was made of or its core, so he returned it and explained that one of his projects was to learn how to tell what composed a wand, or staff that had been made by someone else. This got her attention and she asked if Harry could make wands and staffs, even though she thought she already knew the answer. Harry said he had made the staff for the others and had to make several more to gain a step up in ranking.

Harry was surprised when McGonagall asked if he would try and make her a second wand like he carried. Harry didn't know she was aware of his second wand, or how she knew. Harry lead her to his workshop and had her select her wood and core(s). It turned out to be Walnut with Unicorn hair and surprisingly Centaur hair, then Harry saw it was Walnut he had collected. Harry said he would have to go and get the wood as it was special, but he would return shortly if she wanted to work with the others. Harry used his portkey to leave but once at Potter Manor apparated to the location of the tree he sought. Once he had the wood, enough to make the wand and some extra, he returned to find all the others doing spells, and Ginny was showing her staff work to McGonagall.

Harry returned to his workshop and started shaping the wood into a wand form and smoothing it out, that didn't take long but he did make two blanks. Next he opened one of the blanks and inserted the two hairs and was about to close it when he had a thought. He went out and asked McGonagall to come back to the workshop with him, once there Harry explained. "Prof. I would like you r help in an experiment, I've been told it is possible but not done often. I want to add two drops of your blood to this wand. But the blood must be freely given and if the experiment doesn't work then you can watch as I destroy the wand and your blood."

Using a new silver needle McGonagall put the two drops of blood where Harry asked, she was taking a large risk since with her blood he, or someone evil, could gain control of her and influence her actions and thoughts. She watched as Harry closed the wand and then sanded it slightly. Harry explained that he needed to seal the wand and let it dry overnight before she could use it. For some reason she trusted Harry and didn't feel threatened by his having her blood. She watched as Harry mixed the sealant and applied it evenly over the wand, then Harry suspended the wand in a flow of air and left it there hanging in space. That Harry Potter was attempting to make her a wand was surprising enough, but to see him suspend that wand in the air and leave it was even more surprising that took real power and control.

The prof. was introduced to all of the staffs that were in use by her students. When she saw the difference in power the staffs made she was amazed. The kids spent most of the day down in the chamber, even ate lunch there thanks to the elves, and returned to the school that evening in time for supper. Harry had told McGonagall that he would personally escort her to the chamber the next day, and he did.

Once in the chamber again, and everyone was present, Harry retrieved the new wand and asked McGonagall to try it, carefully starting with simple spells and working upwards. She tried a very simple spell, a first year spell from Transfiguration, and it worked better than expected. She continued to cast more complicated and complex spells for over two hours and they all had more power and worked better than she expected, she even got a few surprises when a spell worked too well. The kids had just been treated to a nice demonstration of McGonagall's skill and were amazed.

After a break for lunch where McGonagall was the recipient of many compliments Harry asked for a volunteer. He wanted McGonagall to lay the wand down and someone to pick it up, after she claimed it like a staff. McGonagall didn't understand what the difference was if the wand was claimed or not, the kids did understand. Fred said he would brave the challenge, but they had to assure him they would take him to the nurse if it went too bad. McGonagall claimed the wand as Harry told her to, and was surprised when both she and the wand glowed briefly. After laying the wand on the table she backed away and Fred tried to pick it up, he was shocked and then when he didn't release it soon enough he was stunned.

After Fred was checked and pronounced okay, Harry asked for another volunteer to try and take the wand from the prof., nobody wanted that honor. Harry asked McGonagall to lay the wand down again and he tried to pick it up, he got a mild shock but nothing else. Harry used the wand to do a few spells and it worked well enough. McGonagall asked why Harry could pick up the wand and Fred couldn't. It was Hermione who explained that by claiming the wand it was tied to one person only and would refuse to allow anyone else to use it. McGonagall was standing there looking closely at her new wand when Ginny tried the Expelliarmus spell and it didn't work in the least.

Harry explained that the wand could not be expelled or summoned from its owner unless the person summoning it was more powerful than the owner plus the wand, except maybe by him since he created the wand and that even Dumbledore might have a hard time taking it from her. Neville said he would bet that the wand, even if it could be held, would not work against the professor, much like their staffs. Nobody wanted to try that, shooting spells at the professor. McGonagall was pleased with her new wand and said it felt like a part of her, and she liked the way it looked too. But, she needed to practice with it so as to prevent accidents due to the increased power it had. The weekend was great fun and the kids learned quite a bit too. But Harry didn't get to do what he wanted, charge the lodestone powder.

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**A/N: Now McGonagall has a "Potter" wand and has more knowledge about the skills Harry has acquired. Now it is time for the other schools to arrive and a few more surprises for Ron, Dumbledore, and someone else.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	7. Chapter 7

**Hogwarts Year 4**

**Chapter 7**

At breakfast that Harry noticed that "Mad-Eye" Moody was sitting at the head table by Madame Pomfrey and he appeared to be in good shape, maybe he would start teaching DADA soon, the classes Dumbledore had taught hadn't been too bad but Harry was sure that Mad-eye would have much to offer them. It was also at breakfast that Dumbledore announced that the other two schools would arrive October 30th, just in time for Halloween. Harry had been right DADA was much different with Moody teaching it, for one thing he introduced the "forbidden" curses to the class using spiders; the Cruciatus Curse was especially painful to Neville since that was the curse used on his parents and caused them to be lost in their own minds, the Imperious Curse showed how it allowed one to control another, and the killing curse – Avada Kedarva – was the most frequent curse used by Voldemort, second only to Crucio.

Moody was an unusual man, he was about Harry's height, maybe a little shorter, had an artificial leg, and an artificial magical eye that swiveled all around on its own. He was heavy set and because of his leg walked with a limp and a thump. He was known to be very paranoid and was frequently repeating his favorite saying "Constant Vigilance". That saying was the watch word around him since he had a habit of jinxing or hexing students not paying attention in class. He wasn't a great teacher but he knew his defensive magic and demonstrated several advanced spells to the classes; most Harry and Hermione knew, the ones Hermione didn't know she copied and dissected to learn from them.

It was during this week that Harry and crew spent much time in the chamber practicing. Harry also took to doing a few simple rituals, but he always warned the others so they knew to stay away from the ritual room. It was Thursday night and Harry asked Hermione for a favor, he needed her to draw runes on his back, his arms, the backs of his legs, and anywhere he couldn't reach easily. Hermione was a little embarrassed since all he wore was a low cut pair of swimwear called Speedos from the states. Once Hermione finished Harry looked like the Illustrated Man he had so many runes on him. Harry cautioned the others that anyone coming down the passageway would lose all of their clothes since this ritual required the recipient to be completely nude, it would be safe to enter the passageway once he exited, or the bell sounded four times which meant he was in trouble and needed help.

It was an hour and a half later when a very tired looking Harry exited the passageway. What could be seen of his skin was bright red. Harry said he had to spend the night down in the chamber since any magic he used, even a portkey, would make this have to be repeated, and it hurt somewhat. Harry asked Hermione, since she was familiar, to conjure a "hot tub" for him, but to not make it too hot, around 110° F or 43° C for him to lay in and rest for a while, but he had to be nude while in the water. Hermione said she would do it if he told her what the ritual was. Harry explained that this ritual made his skin much tougher, the soles of his feet would now withstand him walking without shoes across rocks and not be cut. Harry offered to preform the ritual for Hermione but she said she wasn't ready to be nude in front of him yet. Harry laughed and said while he might like that, he had meant on her feet as the ritual only worked on bare skin. It could also removed any and all scars, except the one on his head since it was magically made. Hermione blushed then said maybe later.

When the group saw Harry the next day he had a very healthy looking tan, but that was the only difference they saw. Later that day Harry told Hermione that now he was cold resistant as well as fire resistant. It was Friday so that meant it was Potions class today. Several of his classmates had complained that Harry got special treatment in Potions, when DuPrie got wind of these complaints she told the class when they were as good at Potions as Harry then he wouldn't be special. But, they were welcome to try the same potion as Harry had that day, it was only a seventh year potion after all. Hermione and Neville said they would like to try that potion with Harry. The three were given the name of the potion and that was all, and it wasn't in their books either; but she did give them the list of ingredients and unlocked the special supply closet. Draco was ready to speak up until DuPrie said of course if the potion was wrong then you got no credit for the week and lost 10 points, Draco never opened his mouth. Harry's potion was 99% perfect, while Hermione and Neville got a barely passing score. Hermione was quite upset with this mark barely passing was not acceptable in her world. She almost asked Ms DuPrie if she could re-take the class so as to make the potion better. Harry saw how Hermione's brain was going and said they would work on the potion together in the chamber, her's would be 99% too. Hermione smiled and patted Harry's shoulder.

It was October 30th and everyone was outside in their best robes to welcome the two schools to Hogwarts. It was Luna who saw the first arrivals, they appeared as just a speck in the sky far away. Draco made a comment that he didn't think it was anything, Fred asked if Draco would like to place a bet on his opinion. The bet was made, if Draco thought he would welsh on the bet he was mistaken since DuPrie heard the bet also. Betting was frowned upon by students but Ms DuPrie felt that it would be a good lesson for Draco to learn. Draco needed to learn how to keep his word and behave honorably. Draco lost. The bet was if Fred lost points in class anytime for the next week Draco lost twice as many; Malfoy was highly upset. He tried to report the gambling to a professor but the only one close was Ms DuPrie. When Draco addressed her she just raised her eyebrow Draco turned back to watch the arrival of the guest school. The speck turned into a large carriage drawn by eight very large horses with wings, and they weren't Pegasus. Out from the carriage stepped the biggest woman anyone had ever seen, she was at least as tall as Hagrid. She was followed by 16 girls, very pretty girls – one might say beautiful girls or young women. Madame Maxime was greeted by Dumbledore who assured her Hagrid would take good care of her steeds without a problem.

Both schools now waited for the second school, the one from Bulgaria. A disturbance out on the lake caused Dumbledore to say it looked like the Bulgarians were arriving. A big black ship rose up out of the lake and dropped anchor close to the shore and a gangplank was lowered. A tall man wearing a heavy cloak started down the plank only to be grabbed and suspended in the air and a siren started sounding. Three Gryffindor students looked at each other and smiled, another marked Death Eater. A group of aurors appeared at the gate very quickly to take custody of the prisoner. Dumbledore was beside himself; the Headmaster of another school, a guest of Hogwarts was arrested and taken away. No matter how much Dumbledore talked the aurors said any marked person was to be detained and questioned at the Ministry, and Fudge had agreed to it. Dumbledore knew that of course Fudge would agree to anything to keep his job right now. He would use this to his advantage to have the other headmaster released into his custody as soon as possible. After all the guest students couldn't be unattended.

The Bulgarian students were upset and wanted to return home, but without their headmaster the boat could not move from the lake. At supper that night it was announced that any senior student could put their name in to compete, but if you were less than 17 you would not be allowed to enter. Harry and Hermione were both over 17 but neither wanted to announce that fact or to enter the tournament. An ancient magical artifact was brought out, the Goblet of Fire, and anyone eligible was to write their name and school on a piece of parchment and place that into the Goblet. Names would be selected the following night after supper. It was also announced that due to the tournament only OWLs and NEWTs would be done this year, but the visiting students would be attending classes with the Hogwarts students and assignment would be made in the morning. The giantess took her girls back to their carriage and the Bulgarians returned to their boat for the night. Eight students disappeared from Hogwarts for a short time that night, they were all deep underground.

That night Harry gave the Weasleys their portkeys to the chamber. He explained that each one would transport its owner to the chamber and when they were ready, take them back to where they came from. To get into the chamber all they had to do was hold the portkey and say "Chamber", 5 seconds later the portkey would put them in the chamber where they needed to move out of the red zone quickly. To return all they had to do was grasp the portkey and say "Return" and they would be returned to the same place they left. As an emergency plan, if in danger they could use the portkey to escape, but it would be foolish to then use it to return where they started. Instead they were to wait until either Harry, Hermione, Luna, or Susan arrived. When the portkey was used it notified each of the four of its use so they could check on who was in trouble. The emergency activation was "Emergency", but the portkeys were attuned to each person and would only work for that person. What Harry didn't tell them was that in an emergency McGonagall would be notified also and able to rescue them.

Up in his office and bedchamber Albus Dumbledore was worried, very worried. Why had the wards grabbed Karkaroff? Why did the wards capture anyone at all, he had not set those wards. Even if his own wards didn't work right any more who could have added or changed the wards. The heirs were too young to effect the wards, unless they were all 17 or older but then they would have been recognized sooner than two years ago. The incarceration of Karkaroff might cause an international incident, there had to be a way around this, but what? It was much too late to call Fudge at the ministry and his floo was "unlisted". By the time Fudge got to his office in the morning it would be 9am, unless he ran late again. He had called and left a message for Amelia but had not heard from her, and wouldn't until the next day as she was spending the night with Sirius Black and barring an emergency was not to be disturbed. Amelia had been notified of the Karkaroff arrest and would deal with that tomorrow, or not.

The next morning Dumbledore was finally able to contact Fudge and found out he knew nothing about Karkaroff being arrested as soon as the headmaster had stepped off the ship. When Amelia finally called back she told Dumbledore she would see if Karkaroff could be released sooner than a month from now, but no promises. Then he got a call from the assistant at the Bulgarian school who said the Britain Ministry could keep the headmaster and the Bulgarian school would send someone to represent the school in a day or so. Things started to get even more interesting after lunch when Fudge called back and asked to come through, with him was the Minister from Bulgaria. It seemed that Karkaroff wasn't very well liked back home and the ministry there saw this as a chance to solve their problem.

"Now Dumbledore since these wards originated here at Hogwarts, the Bulgarians would like to see about installing them there and we have had several other inquiries about these wards. Be a good fellow and say you will put up similar wards for these other counties, or at least in Bulgaria." Fudge said. Dumbledore passed out right in front of both ministers, in his own office.

At supper that night Dumbledore announced that since Prof. Karkaroff was unable to attend to his school's students the Minister of Magic from Bulgaria had come to take charge until a replacement could be sent. Dumbledore introduced the other guests, Ludo Bagman, from Magical Games, and Percy Weasley, acting in Bartemius Crouch Sr.'s ,of the Department of International Magical Cooperation, place, part of the organizational staff for the tournament. After a very fine meal it was time to see who the contestants would be so the Goblet of Fire was brought into the Great Hall.

Dumbledore approached the Goblet and it soon spit out a burnt piece of paper which Dumbledore grabbed from the air, "The contestant from Durmstrang is Viktor Krum." Dumbledore shouted, as he had forgot to cast the Sonorus charm. Soon another piece of paper was spit out of the Goblet, which Dumbledore almost caught but had to pick up from the floor, "The contestant from Hogwarts is Cedric Diggory" Dumbledore said, this time he didn't forget the charm, there was a loud applause for Cedric from the Hogwarts students. The Goblet flared again and a third piece of paper was spit out, this time Dumbledore caught it. "And the contestant for Beauxbatons is Fleur Delacour! Now we have our three contestants, if each of you would please step into the room at the back of the head table we will issue the first challenge." Dumbledore said, loudly.

As soon as the three were out of sight Dumbledore started to return to lead the way when the Goblet flared brightly and put forth another piece of paper, which Dumbledore missed and had to pick off the floor again. His face went pale as he read the piece of paper and then cast the Sonorus charm again, "Would Harry Potter please come to the front as he is the fourth contestant." Everyone in the room was looking at Harry as he walked up to Dumbledore and said "I did not put my name in there!". Harry was told to join the others in the back room.

Harry walked into the room and when the other three saw him they asked if they were wanted back out front but Harry said no he had been sent to await the arrival of the judges as his name had somehow come out of the Blasted Goblet, Cedric laughed at Harry's description of the Goblet of Fire. Soon Dumbledore, Percy, Ludo, and the Bulgarian Minister came into the room along with Flitwick and McGonagall. Harry again protested that he did not put his name into the Goblet and his being here was a mistake. Ludo said that his name coming out of the Goblet constituted a binding magical contract and he was required to compete or lose his magic. Harry looked straight at Dumbledore and said "Call Sirius and Amelia now, or I press charges for violation of my rights and all of you can go to Azkaban!". That one statement got everyone's attention and Sirius Black and Amelia Bones were called.

When Sirius and Amelia got there and heard what had happened they both were upset. "Dumbledore do you really want to try and bully an underage wizard into an illegal contract. Ludo, this I can see you doing as you would do anything to make a bet on. Percy shut your mouth and keep quiet, you are in enough trouble right now. Minister, I apologize for my tone; I don't know how it is in Bulgaria, but here an underage wizard can not enter into a binding contract without his parent or guardian's permission. Since I am Harry's legal guardian and I was not advised of this contract it has no bearing under the law." Sirius said loudly.

"The obvious solution to this is to have all the names resubmitted and redrawn tomorrow night; either that or declare the tournament null and void and everyone returns home." Amelia said. "Oh, there is a third choice and that is I arrest Dumbledore, Ludo, and Weasley for violation of and attempted assault on a minor. And then I cause an international incident by asking the Minister from Bulgaria to leave the country along with the Headmistress of Beauxbatons" Amelia continued. The Minister and Madame Maxime both said they would like the first choice please as that was the most obvious way to settle this matter.

That was when Hogwarts spoke to Harry and told him the Goblet of Fire knew he was 17 and therefore subject to the contract and would cause him to lose his magic in violation of that contract and there was nothing she or he could do about it. "Hold on a second, since it is clear, at least to me, that someone other than myself put my name in the Goblet who is to say it won't happen again. We would end up in the same mess, the contract says I must compete right? It doesn't say I must win or even finish each event. As the youngest contestant I reserve the right to be the last one to start each event. But, I want a full investigation done to determine who is trying to screw me over and why." Harry said much to everyone's surprise.

They tried to declare the drawing null and void but the Goblet would not accept that; the spirit of the goblet appeared and said that the Goblet refused to be disobeyed and would cause the loss of magic from all contestants if they persisted in this manner. This pretty much settled the matter then and there.

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**A/N: Now that all three schools are at Hogwarts the tournament can begin. Will the twins abuse the portkeys? Will Hermione strip for Harry to make her skin tougher; will Ginny, Luna, or Susan? Will Dumbledore lose his mind with worry? I don't do broken English, so Krum and Fleur will speak regular English. Who will be found out causing Harry's entry?**

**Please be kind and comment**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hogwarts Year 4**

**Chapter 8**

Once the situation quieted down Harry had a chance to speak with Sirius and explain why he had changed his mind. As Harry and Sirius talked Sirius told Harry that Bartemius Crouch Sr. had gone missing and Bartey Jr., the impostor of Moody who was caught up in the anti-death eaters ward at Hogwarts, had told his captures that Sr. was the one who sent him to Hogwarts. "We knew that Junior was a Death Eater and it was Bartey Sr. who presided over Junior's trial, it was a shock at the time to find out Bartey Jr. was a marked Death Eater. I was already in Azkaban when they brought Jr. in, now that I think about it Bartemius Crouch Sr. and his wife visited often, which usually doesn't happen. We found out from Bartey Jr. that it was his mother who was buried at Azkaban after she switched places with her son, turns out she was terminal and wanted Jr. out badly. Bartemius has been keeping Jr. under the Imperius curse ever since, it was the wards that overrode the curse. But we can't figure out why Bartey Sr. would send Jr. here to Hogwarts where he couldn't keep an eye on him, and it seems that Percy knew something was up and didn't report it." Sirius explained.

As soon as Harry could he explained why he was competing in the tournament, the Goblet could tell he was 17 and would have removed his magic. Harry warned the rest to take into account what their true ages were and to avoid any type of contracts that could be harmful to them. But the big thing on Harry's mind was who put his name in the Goblet and why? It was time for some serious studying and investigation, if Bartey Jr. had been under the Imperius curse then how did the wards break that curse? Harry needed more information on that curse, maybe Moody would explain it to him better. Not just how to do it but how the curse worked to allow someone to take over someone's mind and control them; or maybe this was more along the lines of spell-crafting that Hermione was into?

Harry knew that there would be some discord amongst the students because he was the fourth contender, which took some of the glory from Cedric, but he didn't expect it to start the very next day. Most of the Ravenclaws just stared at Harry when he came in the next morning for breakfast, and there were a few jeers from Slytherin, which wasn't that unusual, but to be snubbed by the females of Hufflepuff was a shock. Susan and Luna were the only one's of their houses not to go along with their houses actions.

McGonagall asked him to stay after class and as soon as they were alone asked Harry if he had any idea who could have put his name into the drawing? Harry told her he didn't have the slightest idea. McGonagall reminded Harry that she would unable to help due to the rules of the tournament but she wished him luck. Harry left feeling a little better, not much but a little, and went to his next class. Most of the teachers wished Harry luck, at least the ones who knew him, even Flitwick. Harry made sure he talked to Ms. DuPrie and asked if she would have any problem since Beauxbatons was one of the schools; he was told she had known about the tournament and the headmistress wasn't happy she would be supporting Hogwarts, but she didn't mind – her students would understand or not. Then she asked Harry if he had attempted the ritual to charge the lodestone powder yet; Harry didn't think first and said no, thereby admitting he had taken the powder from the storage area, she said to be careful.

The next few weeks went by and there was not much said about the tournament, the first task was in a week and it was designed to test his bravery and cunning. It was during this time that Ginny said her brother Charlie was in for a visit, something about a working vacation. So it was late one night and Harry had been out flying when he saw a flash of flame in the forest and went to investigate. Harry found four dragons in pens and several men camped around them, dragons that close to Hogwarts? Then Harry remembered that Charlie Weasley worked on a dragon reserve and four dragons plus four contestants equaled the first task in Harry's mind. Then Harry saw Hagrid and Madame Maxime close to the dragons, so now the French knew for sure about the dragons – as if Madame Maxime didn't already.

Harry made sure that he ran into Cedric the next day, "Cedric, I know I keep saying it but I didn't put my name in; anyway I found out what the first task is, its dragons, I thought you should know so you can prepare. The french already know and I imagine the Bulgarians do too." Cedric said thanks and walked off, about that time Malfoy walked up and started his act. When Harry went to walk away he felt more than anything a spell fly past him and turned in a defensive manner only to see a white rat-like animal bouncing in the air. Prof. Moody walked up and had his wand aimed at the creature and was heard to say "Never did like people who shot spells at others backs. Little slow there Potter, but good reflexes you might make a decent auror some day." Ms. DuPrie walked up and asked if the ferret was a student and was told it was Malfoy who got caught trying to spell Harry from the rear. Ms. DuPrie said it wasn't nice to use transfiguration on students, but since it was one of her snakes she would see that he appreciated the lesson.

Moody went to end the spell but DuPrie said it would be easier to carry Malfoy in that form and had Goyle pick up the ferret and follow her to the Slytherin dorm. Harry got a full report from Hermione later, who got her information from Daphne, that Draco was once again "grounded" and only allowed out for classes and meals. When he wasn't in class he had to stay in the potions room and scrub caldrons by hand or prepare ingredients and if the ingredients weren't done correctly then he had to redo them until they were and a bill was sent to his mother to replace the ruined supplies. Harry and the rest of the group laughed hard at that.

Two days before the first task and Harry was pulled from class for a contestant meeting and wand examination. When he got to the room where the examination was to be done he found Ollivander there, along with the other contestants. There was a redheaded woman also and a man with a camera was following her around snapping photos. "Hello, you must be Harry Potter, I am Rita Skeeter from the Daily Prophet. Why don't we step over there and let me get a quick interview and a few pictures?" Rita said. Harry refused and told her, very loudly, that if he saw even one picture of himself in the paper he didn't authorize he would sue the paper and have her arrested. Also, nobody used a Quick-Quotes Quill around him, with that he snatched the quill out of her hand and broke it. When it was his turn to have his wand examination he asked that only the officials hear what Ollivander had to say as it was an unfair advantage for the others to know his wand.

This was an unusual request but Ollivander had no objections and since Harry was first it would be fair for all the contestants. It was after the examination that Harry got a chance to ask Ollivander a few questions, like how he was able to determine the composition of a wand he had not made? The wand maker took Harry aside and said he was aware of Harry's interest and had been warned that Harry might come to him with a few questions, or to have a wand examined. Ollivander told Harry it was a simple spell that he kept in his head that did the actual detection and told him if the wand was functional or not. He even told Harry the spell that almost all wand makers used, Harry wrote the spell down and thanked the kindly but odd old man.

It was the night before the first event and Harry went to the forest to speak with the dragons and find out what was going on. Harry approached the smallest dragon in his snake form and asked why she was being kept here. The dragon said she didn't know but to stay away from her nest. Harry noticed that all the dragons were female and had eggs to watch over. Harry talked with each dragon before returning to the dorm.

It was just after lunch when all the contestants were herded into a tent and told that the first task was to retrieve a golden egg from a dragon and that the egg contained the clue for the second task. Each of them drew a miniature dragon from a bag and the dragon had a number on it showing who went in what order. Harry ended up with a Horntail one of the most dangerous dragons and he would be last.

It was finally Harry's turn and as he walked out he saw several scorched marks on the walls of the enclosure, this did not do much to help Harry's case of the nerves. Harry looked around a pile of rocks and could see the eggs with the golden one on top. Harry decided to do this the easy way and summon the egg, nope didn't work the egg didn't even move. Harry walked out and spoke to the dragon asking why she was guarding a pile of rocks, as he canceled the transfiguration, the dragon took one eye off Harry and saw that it was a pile of rocks. She got angry and tried to incinerate Harry, that didn't work either. Harry just kept walking and talking; he made a deal with the dragon, she gave him the golden egg and he would release her and tell her where to find a different reserve that let her roam free and there was a very old male there looking for a mate. The dragon agreed and Harry released the dragon and told her to chase him as he mounted his broom, which had just appeared.

Harry took off and the dragon followed as they flew out of sight Harry told her where to find the Potter reserve, she had heard of that place and agreed it was much better than any other reserve and flew off; Harry returned to claim his egg. Harry took first place since his time was the fastest and the others had either been injured or caused the eggs to be broken. Harry didn't want first place he wanted last, _"Just my luck, I can't even lose on purpose. At least I got that dragon freed and will offer the same to the others tonight"_ Harry thought as he walked back to the school with his egg.

There was a big party that night in the Gryffindor dorm and things were going great until someone suggested they hear the clue. Harry opened the egg and all they heard was a very loud screeching sound that hurt their ears. "Well that was, well disturbing and irritating" Harry said after getting his hearing back. When someone asked how Harry had withstood the dragon's fire Harry said fireproof charm and a shield charm. Later that night Harry went out and freed all the dragons and sent them to his reserve, he also left a note **Quit being mean to the dragons** stuck to a post in the middle of the camp. The next morning the whole camp was surprised to find their dragons gone and nobody had heard a thing, the note caused a few concerns.

Harry asked Ginny to speak with Charlie and tell him to ask Bill to contact Griphook at the bank for a message. Harry used his portkey to go to Gringotts and leave a message for Bill. The following Friday night at midnight a young man appeared in the red zone in the chamber only to be grabbed by a redheaded girl, his sister Ginny, who tried to break his ribs with a hug. Once Bill escaped the hug he saw Harry standing there and they greeted each other. "Is this where I think we are?" Bill asked and Harry told him welcome to the Chamber of Secrets. Bill was given the tour and shown almost everything, some things were secret even to the others. Harry explained his problem, giant spiders that needed to be moved so the snake could eat a few. When Harry explained how he had moved the snake Bill said just do the same thing with the spiders. Harry said he didn't think the spiders would just stand there and allow a portkey to put on them.

"Stun them first" was Bill's suggestion. Harry had thought of that and it didn't work well, sometimes the stunner killed the spider. Also, there were many spiders, it would take an army to stun all of them, if they could find all of them. "You used a portkey to move the snake, why not place a sticking charm on the portkey, a sticking charm that only sticks to the spider, and have the portkey do the work?" Bill asked. That might work, but first they needed a spider to test it on. Bill was shown the tunnel that lead out into the spider lair. Now Bill understood the problem better, there were a LOT of spiders, BIG spiders, car size spiders. Bill asked if Harry could get more portkeys and was told he just needed to know how many. Bill suggested they start with 100 to test out an idea.

Harry had two rolls of pennies from the states, why he wasn't sure as you couldn't buy much of anything with pennies, that he used to create the portkeys. Bill took some of the pennies and threw them into the lair, some even landed on a spider and the spider disappeared, others just landed on the ground to be stepped on (hopefully) by a passing spider. After seeing his idea work, Bill told Harry "Man that is some really fine charm work, too bad they don't return so we could use them again." Harry thought for a few seconds and started working on the remaining coins.

They tried again and this time a few minutes later pennies started to reappear on the floor of the lair. Soon there were pennies covering the entrance to the lair, Harry had asked Windford to scatter the pennies since he couldn't be seen or smelled by the spiders. The spider population declined rapidly over the next few days and Bill got to work with Harry on some wards.

It was getting close to Christmas and the kids were looking forward to the break. Draco had finally been released from being grounded and was back to his usual snide self. Daphne had been busy supplying Hermione with information, and some Harry was aware of before she told Hermione. Harry suggested that they invite Daphne over during Christmas break to #12 Grimmauld and the invitation would be given on the train ride home.

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**A/N: Okay, we have finished the first task now on to Christmas fun. There won't be many more rituals, except the one used to charge the lodestone as too many people look on rituals as evil, even some of our characters. No Christmas Ball this time around.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	9. Chapter 9

**Hogwarts Year 4**

**Chapter 9**

The day before everyone left for Christmas break and Harry still hadn't figured out the second clue, not that he was too worried since he had no intention of winning the tournament. He had succeeded last night in charging the lodestone powder and had even split it up into two batches, one to test and one to take to the manor – if the first passed the testing. Harry hoped that by charging the lodestone powder it would be enough to make the compound his own and satisfy Grimstead. Harry took the testing sample with him to see Ms. DuPrie and to ask her to oversee the testing so he could be sure. The lodestone was well charged the testing revealed and DuPrie was very surprised; they had time to mix a small amount of the whole compound for Harry to test over the holidays.

Six of the eight friends were packed and ready to leave when they came down for breakfast, the other two never seemed to be ready on time according to their sister. After they had finished eating Hermione announced loudly that she needed to ask Ms. DuPrie a question that had been bothering her and went to the head table. "Ms. DuPrie, could I ask a favor of you? We wanted to invite Daphne Greengrass over for the holidays abut we don't want to cause her problems in her own house. I was wondering if maybe you could call her to the potions lab while I just happened to be there so I could speak with her?" Hermione explained to the instructor, the response was a surprise, "Why Ms. Granger, I suspect you have some Slytherin in you. That is a plan worthy of a Slytherin, meet me in the lab in one hour".

When Hermione got to the lab she found Daphne waiting for her, Daphne said she was told to meet Ms. DuPrie here and was waiting for her to show up. Hermione quickly invited Daphne to join them on the ride home for break so they could plan when and where to meet during the holidays. The two girls talked for around 30 minutes before DuPrie came in and told Daphne that a mistake had been made and apologized for calling the wrong person in to talk, so she could go finish packing or whatever.

On the train Daphne joined the others, even the enlarged compartment was getting crowded with 10 people even Ron had joined the group for part of the ride home. It was agreed that Hermione would call Daphne and invite her over from #12, then they could all get together; Harry wasn't sure about letting her see Potter Manor yet. Daphne made an unusual comment in that this was the first Christmas break where Malfoy didn't have to buy a new wand. It was the twins that said that would never do and they went to see about fixing that mistake. When the two returned they handed Draco's wand to Harry and said they had switched wands, Malfoy had one of their trick wands that would explode into small pieces in about 12 hours unless it was deactivated – which unfortunately they hadn't figured out how to do yet. Everyone laughed at that idea, especially when Daphne told them he sometimes carried his wand in his back pocket.

Harry decided to try out the spell he had gotten from Ollivander for wand determination. Harry silently cast the spell and it revealed that the wand was _"__Hawthorn and unicorn hair, 10 inches"_. Harry found the information interesting, but not particularly useful. Harry thought that it might be useful to scan more wands so as to get practice in doing so, but they would have to be wands he wasn't used to seeing or had heard about. When the train reached the platform everyone was met by family or guardians and they all agreed to get together on the 26th to exchange presents.

Harry finished his Christmas shopping on Tuesday so he had a few days to play a round before the big day. He packaged up a sample of the improved powder, along with the list of ingredients from the original, and sent it to Grimstead to show his progress. On Christmas Eve day Harry got a reply from Grimstead, "_Very good work Mr. Potter, now if you would be so kind as to tell me who helped you. I know I cheated and got help with the ingredients when I was assigned the same task so it isn't anything different for you to do so. I am not sure what you changed as I have not reversed engineered the compound but it is different and seems to possess a different feel and protection. I say again, very good work_". This was a very pleasant surprise for Harry.

Christmas morning Harry woke Sirius at 5:30am and then went back to bed only to be awaken himself at 6:30am by Kreacher saying breakfast was ready and Master Sirius was waiting. Breakfast was huge soon several others arrived, Amelia and Susan, Remus, Rick and Lucy, and a real surprise was Aunt Petunia. Gifts were opened, except for some which would be left to be opened the next day, and fun was had by all. Harry and Sirius had decided that they would trade locations each Christmas so each got to host the Christmas breakfast and Boxing day festivities at his own house.

It was December 26th 10am when Hermione arrived at 12 Grimmauld place with her parents. It was 10:15 when the Weasleys were called and asked to step through the fireplace, by 10:30 the whole crew was there, except for Daphne as she would be allowed over just before lunch was served. Once everyone had said hello Harry pulled Charlie Weasley to the side, such a nice surprise for the Weasley Family to have him for Christmas Harry asked if Charlie might have some information as to why they had brought four dragons to what was supposed to be a **Tri**Wizard tournament? Charlie said that was the order, it came in a week before they left and was changed from three dragons to four dragons; also, that the handlers all got into trouble over losing all four dragons "and three of them disappeared after the tournament! Whoever stole those three left a note saying we shouldn't be mean to the dragons. Who in their right mind would steal three dragons?" Charlie said.

Harry laughed and told Charlie that he was sure that the dragons were much happier now, this did raise a bit of suspicion on Charlie's part. Charlie came out and asked if Harry knew anything about the missing dragons and Harry confessed that one was on the Potter reserve and from what he had heard it was very happy. At the mention of the Potter Dragon Reserve Charlie's eyes lit up, nobody had heard a thing about the famous Potter Dragon Reserve in over fifty years. It was rumored that it was the largest reserve in the world and dragons fought to be able to live there. "I wish I could have gotten on there, but they haven't hired anyone in years and never post for new workers. A lot of what we know about dragons comes from the research done there" Charlie said.

"Well I am a Potter you know, how about if as a Christmas present I arrange for you to spend a day there?" Harry asked. Charlie said he would give a month's pay for that chance, Harry replied "In that case you work the first month free, if you pass inspection by the workers there now." Bill had to come over and help his younger brother up from the floor, as his knees had buckled at the wonderful opportunity several people stared at Charlie not understanding why the man who worked with dragons on a daily basis had collapsed after a two minute conversation with Harry.

Just before lunch Hermione called Daphne and invited her to come over and join the party, Daphne stepped through the fireplace, after asking if her parents could come too, and the Greengrass family was welcomed. The Greengrass family had been considered neutral in the last war and were still considered neutral now. Mr. Greengrass knew Sirius from the Wizengamot and Sirius told Harry later he had made a good friend in that family. After a very large meal everyone retired to the living room to pass out the presents. This year it was Sirius' turn to act as host so the first present went to Amelia of course. Everyone received gifts except the adult Greengrass and their youngest daughter, as they were unexpected guests.

One of the presents Daphne received was a Slytherin necklace, which she considered strange being as it came from Harry but Hermione told her in secret it was more than it seemed and to wait. The adults went into the library while the kids stayed in the living room to compare presents and talk about "Kid Stuff" as Sirius put it. Everyone was having a ball when Sirius came in and said he needed to speak with Harry alone for a few minutes and it was important. The two went into the office and Sirius secured the door, "Harry, something has come up. It took a while but we finally broke the conditioning on Crouch Jr., it seems that someone else besides Voldemort was controlling him – someone called 'The One' and we have no clue as to who that is. Also, when Kreacher heard about this he showed me something, a gold locket necklace with a large 'S' on it. He said Regulus gave it to him to destroy but he has been unable to do so and Regulus mentioned this 'The One'" Sirius said as he showed Harry the necklace.

Harry felt strange when he held the necklace and said it felt like the diary of Tom Riddle did before he destroyed that book, very evil. Harry just grabbed Sirius and they both disappeared only to arrive in a cavern on a red square. Harry told Sirius that he had been meaning to bring Sirius here but it never seemed the right time. Harry and Sirius went into the snake chamber and Harry summoned a large tooth and told Sirius to open the locket but be prepared for a shock. When Sirius opened the locket both heard a strange voice and Harry seemed to struggle against it, then Harry stuck the tooth into the locket and loud scream was heard as a black cloud rose up from it. Harry used his wand to cast a spell Sirius had never heard before and watched as the cloud was enclosed by a golden sphere.

Harry took a deep breath and told Sirius that the black cloud looked like the same thing he got when he "killed" the diary and when he had captured Voldemort's spirit his first year. "I believe we are looking at a piece of Voldemort's soul here and if he made two copies he has made more. We need to find how many he made and where they all are, if just one of these remain then it would be possible to resurrect himself into a new body. I learned about these at Peaks, they are called a Horcrux, or soul anchor, and require the murder of an innocent to create. There may be as many as three more of these things around since seven is a very magical number. So far two have been destroyed by basilisk venom, one was the spirit of Voldemort, and I believe that thing Lucy removed from my head was another – although a shadow of that thing remains and I use it to help protect my mind from Legilimency." Harry said sounding very tired. After resting a few minutes Harry showed Sirius around the chamber and explained how it was used by the group before taking them both back to 12 Grimmauld.

On December 27th Charlie went to the reserve he wasn't seen again for almost two months by his family; but he had said he had to return to work so that wasn't too unusual. Harry introduced him to the head elf at the reserve and left Charlie in his charge. While there Harry saw that all four dragons from the tournament were there and settling in nicely. It turned out one of them was pregnant for real and happy to have a safe place to lay her eggs and raise her young. Harry asked that if any dragon died that the heart be preserved for wand cores, if the dragons didn't object to that use of parts.

Daphne spent most of the rest of the holiday with the others and was taught several spells that she should know but had not been taught by her previous instructors. She was allowed to go with the others to the Potter Manor, but not told where it was or who owned the place and never allowed inside alone. They even took Ron a few times but his attitude towards Slytherins got in the way until one day Daphne unloaded on him and cursed him from one end of the yard to the other. "All Slytherins aren't evil; my family has been and will remain neutral. All Gryffindors aren't brave, just look at yourself; you aren't nearly as brave as your sister. And from what I have seen not nearly as strong as her when it comes to spells. So, what is your problem Weasley?" Daphne asked when she finally released Ron from a full body bind.

The twins told Ron his mouth was going to get him really hurt one day, besides they thought Daphne might like Ron and was just testing him. Daphne noticed that Harry would disappear from time to time only to reappear an hour or so later. When she got too curious and asked about that Harry said he had to do a few things for the owner so that they would be allowed to use the property. The owner was teaching him many things not taught at Hogwarts, like introduction to simple wards, such as the fire proof ward he had used against the dragon in the first task.

The kids had fun and Daphne proved she could easily be included to the extent that the girls asked that she be invited to Peaks the next summer. Harry was inclined to agree but said everyone who had been there had to agree, which only left the twins since Neville would agree with Susan anyway. The twins said they had no objections as she was a nice looking girl and seemed to have some talent and power in her. When Ron was mentioned, they all said he had not proven himself to be reliable and able to get along with everyone, but he was showing improvement in his studies.

Returning to Hogwarts was only four days away when Daphne said she had heard from Pansy that Draco Malfoy was very angry with the twins as he had to go to the hospital to have his rear-end treated after his wand exploded. When the group heard this they laughed for 30 minutes, as soon as they calmed down someone would say something about Malfoy and it would start all over again. Sirius fell out of his chair when he heard about it and wanted to know how the twins had done that, would Sirius Black ever grow up? Even Remus thought it was funny, not nice but funny. Before Remus left Harry had asked his help, he had Remus choose a new wand. A wand that when finished worked so much better than his old one he started using it all the time; Sirius also got a new wand – both had to pay for them as that was part of the deal with Grimstead, both men gladly paid the G20 for the wands.

The night before the return Harry got to thinking, he had made several wands over the holidays; he had made one for Sirius, Remus, Bill Weasley, Charlie Weasley, and had been talked into doing one for Amelia. That was five wands plus the one he did for McGonagall before Christmas. Once they got back and he had a chance to be around Daphne more he would most likely create one for her, especially if she went to Peaks with them. He still thought that Bill could use a staff and intended to let him try one soon. Harry had even used the new sealant and it showed that it worked better and the wands seemed a little more powerful and repelled dust better; but Sirius, Remus, and Amelia were the only ones he personalized.

Harry was at the platform by 10am as he wanted to try something, he wanted to see if it was possible to combine two compartments into one so there would be more room. He chose two in the middle of a car and started to work, it turned out to be easier than he thought as he ended up with a compartment the size of the prefect's compartment but it was comfortable and would hold the whole group without anyone having to squeeze in or sit in someone's lap if they didn't want. He locked the door and put a special password on it, Fawkes, then put PRIVATE on the door. When the others got there he told them the password and where the special compartment was located. The trip back was without incident, after the twins walked past Malfoy and laughed and asked how roasted rump roast smelled.

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**A/N: Now Sirius knows about the chamber, and Harry suspects there are more Horcrux around. But who is "The One"? I want your feedback as to whether or not Ron should be included more and invited to Peaks; we have the rest of the year to get through so no real rush. I don't think I want any "rump roast" anytime soon, do you?**

**Please be kind and comment**


	10. Chapter 10

**Hogwarts Year 4**

**Chapter 10**

Upon returning to Hogwarts the eight went about getting ready for classes the next day and the feast that night. Harry had canceled the charms he had used on the train so it would be normal when, or if, checked. That night Luna told Harry that Cedric had found the second clue and had said something about putting the egg underwater to hear it clearly. Harry promised he would try that with his egg sometime soon.

Harry ran into Cedric the next day. Cedric told Harry that the perfects bath was a good place to sit and think about the egg and that the password was "Honeydukes". There were very few places at Hogwarts that Harry needed a password for since he was an heir, but Harry thanked Cedric for the suggestion. That night Harry went to the prefects bath and sat in the water, Myrtle came in and said that the other boy had put his egg underwater and got a surprise. Harry put the egg underwater and nothing, then he tried to open it underwater and could hear something but it was muffled. Harry placed his head under the water and could now hear what the clue was:

"_Come seek us where our voices sound,  
We cannot sing above the ground,  
And while you're searching, ponder this:  
We've taken what you'll sorely miss,  
An hour long you'll have to look,  
And recover what we took,  
But past an hour – the prospect's black,  
Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."_

So, something he would miss was going to be taken and he would have an hour to find it or lose it according to the poem. Well, what if you hid everything important in the quarters or chamber; they would have a heck of a time stealing anything then. Myrtle was surprised when Harry stood as he was wearing swim trunks. Harry did thank her for her help and told her that he was sorry he had forgotten to tell her that the one who was responsible for her death was now dead himself. Harry told Myrtle that if she wanted to stay in the castle she was welcome but if she wanted to move on to her reward then she was free to do so.

Harry made sure that he told his seven closest friends, and that he already planned to remove all valuables to the chamber. That was when it occurred to him Daphne didn't know about the chamber yet, Hermione would take care of that tonight as she was supposed to bring Daphne to the chamber. Harry was surprised when Hermione showed up with not one but two people, she had brought Daphne's sister also. It turned out Draco had taken an interest in the second year student and was being a pest about it.

Harry was convinced to give the younger sister a portkey necklace too, Hermione was very persuasive when she wanted to be. So both girls were introduced to the chamber and told about the portkey necklaces, both usual use and emergency use, Harry drew the line at the younger girl knowing about the wands yet. That night Luna said she had found something strange in an old book and wanted Hermione to take a look, the two girls disappeared for an hour and came back in time to take the Greengrass girls back from the chamber.

Harry was told that he needed to see this old book but Luna said nobody else except the five since it belonged to her predecessor, Rowena. Harry, Neville, and Hermione entered the Gryffindor quarters and then went to Ravenclaw to meet with Luna and Susan. Luna showed them the book and it was a diary of Rowena Ravenclaw and what had caught Luna's attention was what seemed to be a prediction or prophecy which read:

_The One comes  
He will try to become  
Death's Master_

_The One will die at the hands of the Two  
The Two will unite the Four Houses  
The Lion Snake will join with the Eagle and Badger  
Three to unite the Four Houses_

_The Light will control the Darkness  
To do it's bidding and cause havoc  
And seek to combine The Unseen, The Unbeatable  
and That which speaks with the Dead_

_Two of the three must be destroyed  
The Unbeatable will be buried  
That which speaks with the Dead will be made powder  
__The Unseen will be kept, but changed._

Harry found this interesting, this was the second time he had heard the term "The One" and each time it had been in reference to something evil. The first part was easy to understand and the last part was easy to understand, but the two middle parts were a puzzle to Harry right now. Harry told the other four about what Sirius had found out and what he thought. The presence of one Horcrux was a surprise, but to know of four was alarming. There had to be three more out there somewhere. If this was a prophecy, then that meant that Voldemort had been controlled by someone else and that someone was still around since he had sent Crouch Jr. to Hogwarts.

But right now he had the second task to think about and he wasn't sure he had gotten all his valuables hidden, what if the thing stolen was a person; it could be Sirius, that would be very dangerous, it could be one of the girls in his group or even Neville, or it could be someone else he hadn't thought about. Harry asked that if he guessed right and something was stolen and place at the bottom a a body of water, that Luna and Susan be ready to help with the water problem if needed. Both girls agreed that they would and if needed they could get Ginny to help.

Harry knew that he could always just merge with Windermere and he would be okay, but that seemed to be cheating since as far as he knew the others didn't have access to an elemental. Oh well, that was their problem not his he thought. His immediate problem was protecting what might be taken. Harry told all the girls that they were to wear their armor at all times and not to be alone with anyone associated with the tournament the night before the task.

The group kept up with their training, and Harry made sure that he told McGonagall that he had to charge for the wand as his mentor had set a task for him to create a number of wands – McGonagall had no problem paying Harry especially since the new wand worked better than her old one. Harry also kept renewing the portkeys for the spiders, but the number of spiders was dropping rapidly. Harry estimated that there might be only about 20 left in the cave and thought that it might be a good idea to take a look.

Harry merged with Firebeard and walked into the cave only to find 11 spiders and none of them were approaching the fire covered boy. One of the spiders was huge and seemed to be the leader. Harry found out that this was Aragog, the acromantula that Hagrid had raised and released into the forest a little over fifty years ago. Aragog spoke and asked why his children were disappearing, even his wife Mosag had disappeared. Harry told him it was because the spiders were too many for the forest to support and they were endangering the other inhabitants of the forest. Harry then explained that he could relocate Aragog to where his wife was and they could live out their lives in peace, except for the basilisk that lived there. It wasn't long before there weren't any acromantula left in the forest.

While waiting for the next task Harry worked on another form for his animagus skill. Harry found that if he focused hard enough he could take the shape of just about any snake, he didn't think he could change his phoenix form and didn't want to do so anyway. Harry talked with Hagrid about what creatures were living in the forest, normal as well as magical, and found out the different types of snakes to be found. Harry, after a few days, found he could transform into a common snake and be ignored by most of the inhabitants, except the ones who preyed on snakes, in the forest. Harry shared this information with the other four animagi.

Hermione and Susan who explored the forest the most in their bird forms, and the two of them who found the centaur camp. Now Harry, and his friends, knew where most of the inhabitants lived in groups. Harry took the precaution of hiding the entrance to the caves so other animals and creatures wouldn't cause a problem and they could use the caves as another exit, or entrance, to the forest. _"This might come in handy if Hogwarts was ever attacked again. We could come in behind any attackers from the chamber."_ Harry thought.

It was two days until the second task and now Harry was focused on protecting his friends. He knew of all the people around him the two most likely to be taken were Sirius or Hermione; anyone trying to take Sirius was in for a surprise. Harry asked Hermione to make sure she wore her armor at all times and reminded her to never be alone with anyone associated with the tournament, especially Dumbledore.

It was the day of the second task and Hermione was missing, along with Cho Chan from Ravenclaw. It didn't take Harry long to have Luna send her elemental, Ariel, to check on Hermione, there were four people in the village of the merpeople and Hermione was one of them. Harry was very upset, he didn't know whether to be mad at Hermione or Dumbledore, Dumbledore was the one who became the target of Harry's anger. When it became time for the task Harry was almost glowing he was so mad.

As the event was announced Harry called Windermere and asked that he merge with him. As soon as Bagman said go, Harry saw both Cedric and Fleur cast a "bubble-head" charm on themselves. Harry dove into the cold water and was soon joined by Ariel, Luna's elemental, who would show the way to the hostages. A few grindylows tried to grab Harry but couldn't since they didn't do well in air, and maybe it was because the water elemental had a few laughs as she played tricks on them.

When he reached the village Harry saw all four hostages in the middle of town with ropes holding them down. Harry waited a few seconds saw Cedric come and cut Cho loose and take her back to the surface. Harry retrieved Hermione and watched as Krum came to claim his hostage, Krum had a shark's head on his body – nice partial transfiguration. Nobody had come to get the fourth hostage, a little girl not much older than 10 or 11, so Harry tried to cut her loose too. The merpeople tried to stop him but had very little success. Harry took both girls to the surface and then to the platform so they could be pulled out of the water and dried off.

Harry saw both Krum and Cedric on the platform but no Fleur, Harry went back down and soon found Fleur tangled in some weeds and it looked as if her charm was about to fail. Harry had Windermere also encompass the girl just as her charm failed. The two of them were soon back on the platform and Harry was madder than ever, the merpeople were supposed to protect the contestants in the event of trouble but none had shown up to help Fleur. The judges seemed to be undecided as to how to score the event since Harry had rescued three people, it ended up with Harry being awarded second place with Krum being third.

Seeing Sirius coming towards him Harry had an idea. As soon as Sirius was close Harry told him that he thought the three Headmasters had illegally kidnapped the hostages and that it should be investigated. Sirius walked up to the judges and asked, "Who gave you permission to use underage students in this event? I know I didn't give permission for any of them and I will check with the parents to see if they gave permission. If it turns out that you didn't have permission then you will be paying the consequences be it a fine or prison time."

Sirius checked with Lucy, as Hermione's magical guardian, and found out nobody asked for permission. When the Chang family found out that Cho had not volunteered they got angry, then Fleur came up and asked when her sister had arrived and who said they could use her in this dangerous event. It soon became evident that Dumbledore had made the decision himself without consulting any of the other headmasters. Amelia came to Hogwarts and arrested Dumbledore on kidnapping, endangering a minor, and false imprisonment.

Dumbledore was very surprised and embarrassed when he tried to use Fawkes to escape and the phoenix refused to answer his call. Dumbledore was so surprised when Fawkes refused that he was unprepared for Harry to summon his wand out of his hand. With his wand gone he was no match for Amelia and Sirius so he was taken to the cells at the ministry to await trial on the charges.

There was a loud celebration that night in the Gryffindor dorm, the twins made sure there was plenty of Butter-beer and snacks from the kitchens. It was announced that there would be no classes the next day as the teachers were required to attend a board of governors meeting in the great hall and that students were to keep the noise down. The eight met up in the chamber after everyone else had gone to bed and discussed the task from that day, it was then that they found out how Hermione had been captured. Hermione had been drugged! It was when she awoke after the task that she knew anything had happened to her.

The next morning the governor's meeting was monitored by Hogwarts herself, plus the fab five were listening again. The first order of business was to place McGonagall as Headmistress of Hogwarts, the second was the termination of Dumbledore as headmaster – due to his being arrested. A surprise visit from Amelia was the high point of the meeting, it seemed that the French had requested that Dumbledore be turned over to them for trial and the French had filed a diplomatic complaint against him for assault on an ambassador's child. Things weren't looking good for Dumbledore, or England in general.

The announcement of the change of Heads was made at supper that night and was met with mixed feelings. Hagrid appeared to be torn between his faith in Dumbledore and his duty to the school and its students. McGonagall was also upset as she didn't want the job, but at the same time was glad that Dumbledore was not there any longer as she disagreed with some of his decisions of late. It was also announced that the third task would take place the last weekend in April so the competitors could have time to prepare.

After supper Fleur came over to thank Harry for saving her sister, and herself. Fleur said that maybe she had been wrong to judge Harry so quickly at the start of the tournament and maybe they could be friends. Several of the male students were having a hard time resisting Fleur's Veela charm while Harry seemed immune. Hermione seemed to like that Harry wasn't affected, unlike Ron who was drooling. Then Hermione noticed that Neville didn't seem to be affected either, maybe it was because both boys were thinking about someone else.

A few weeks later when Hermione asked Harry if he had noticed any difference since he did the skin toughening ritual. Harry told her that now when he got up the floor wasn't as cold, and neither were the toilet seats, as he smiled at her. Harry went on to say he might need to do the ritual again as each time it made his skin tougher and more resistant to injury. Hermione reached out and felt Harry's arm and said it didn't feel any different; maybe more muscular but still soft, not hard like she had thought. Harry told her some muggle women did something similar if they intended to breastfeed, this caused Hermione to blush, except they used a cream instead of a ritual.

The following weekend Hermione asked if Harry was sure the ritual worked, or more specifically didn't work on covered skin. Harry assured her that it didn't effect covered skin, but if she wanted to be protected from cold toilet seats her bum had to be uncovered and suggested that she wear a thong if she wanted that, Hermione blushed again. When it came time to do the ritual Hermione was wearing her robes as they went into the ritual chamber, but removed them to reveal she wore a two-piece swimsuit with thong bottoms, Harry just wore a thong suit – both were slightly embarrassed to be seen by the other, and Harry hoped Hermione didn't notice his reaction to her. When they exited the room Hermione was bright red but Harry was only mildly red, like a mild sunburn. The elves took care of the bath this time as both kids soaked in a tub of hot swirling water and drank several glasses of iced water.

By Monday morning Hermione looked like she had been out on the beach and gotten a really good tan, Harry also appeared to be well tanned himself. Their appearance caused many questions, until Hermione said she had found a way to simulate a tanning bed like a muggle might use. Now several of the girls wanted to use the same technique to improve their skin color. Hermione said she would see what she could do for them. Hermione did tell Harry that she would have to do a lot of sunbathing ALONE this summer to even out her tan, Harry suggested she learn the ritual and do an "all over" and maybe include some of the other girls in the group. Hermione commented that it didn't sound as much fun painting runes on other girls are it was painting Harry, Harry agreed it had been fun painting Hermione too.

Over the next few weeks Hermione studied the ritual while Harry and the twins studied how to make a "tanning bed" for the other girls to use who weren't in the group. When it came time for the girls to go to the ritual chamber Harry reminded them that hair counted as covering so to be sure to put their hair up on top of their heads. Harry had Hermione and Susan both explain the precautions they needed to take and the warning chimes. So it was Hermione, Susan, Ginny, Luna, and Daphne who went to the chamber for the ritual, Hermione was the only one barefoot. After the girls were in the chamber all the boys agreed that it might be interesting to go watch and see so much of the girls exposed, but didn't as they feared the anger of the girls later.

While the girls were doing the ritual, the twins and Harry showed Neville their invention and talked him into trying it. Neville only stayed under the light for 15 minutes and that was enough to get him red, especially his chest. It would be the next day before they would know if it worked or not. When the girls came out they were all moving very slowly and carefully, except Hermione. Harry had fixed them a large tub to soak in and the elves would take care of the cold water to drink.

The next morning when the girls came out dressed Hermione was heard to say that some areas weren't meant to be burned all the girls seemed to agree. Neville looked much darker that day and the girls wondered if he had done the ritual too, but Harry told them it was the result of his and the twins experiment to produce a "tanning bed". What skin showed on the girls was much darker tanned than when they went into the chamber; Ginny and Luna who were very fair skinned looked much better with a nice tan, and Susan, and Daphne, looked darker.

Hermione told Harry later that painting, and being painted by, other girls wasn't as much fun as painting, and being painted by, him, but it had been educational. The following Monday all five girls were cornered by other girls who demanded that they too be able to use this "tanning bed", it was Hermione who said she would see if the owner would allow that but it only held one person at a time for now and the owner insisted that you tan nude, that seemed to turn a few girls off but not many. The surprise was Ms. DuPrie, she wanted to use it too; Hermione told her to see Harry as it was a ritual he had found and she was sure he would share, and Ms. DuPrie did ask Harry.

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**A/N: we have finished the second task, what is up with Dumbledore? This is something that JKR didn't address in canon, how did they get permission to use underage students for this dangerous task? Well now all the group girls have been in Harry's "Tanning Salon". Next up the third task.**

**Please be kind and comment**


	11. Chapter 11

**Hogwarts Year 4**

**Chapter 11**

Harry and the twins received permission from McGonagall, setup the "tanning bed" in an empty classroom on weekends where they only charged G1 (1 Galleon) per person to use it for 30 minutes. A member of the staff was to always be present when the room was used to prevent spying and to remind the students that hair was considered a covering. Teachers weren't charged, but were asked to contribute a small piece of their time to monitor the students. Ms. DuPrie seemed to monitor the room more than any other female instructor, and used it more. The money was split four ways between Harry, Fred, George, and Hogwarts. Harry donated his share to be used to help those students who needed help, as was Hogwarts share.

The students soon noticed that the Quidditch patch was now a mass of plants that grew very quickly, although Harry was the only contestant to see the layout in his phoenix form - it was a maze. Classes were continuing and the group was doing well, some better than others. McGonagall seemed to depend on Harry and Hermione more and more to help out in her transfiguration classes and Flitwick used them in charms. Mad-Eye was a real treat as he continued to attack students and expect them to defend themselves, even if he only used mild tickling charms against them. But he was getting frustrated since he couldn't seem to get around Harry, Hermione, and Neville's defenses.

Potions were also a good class, Ms. DuPrie continued to challenge Harry with more and more advanced potions. She was also challenging Hermione and Neville even though her snakes who kept causing problems and complaining about it. Complaints were handled with a challenge to do the advanced potions correctly; first and second years still used class time to prepare ingredients for the more advanced classes as the need arose.

Ancient Runes was Hermione's favorite, it was one class where she didn't feel left behind by Harry. Between the two of them they kept the instructor on her toes trying to challenge them and introduce them to more advanced runes. The two kept asking questions and bringing rune samples to class, the instructor was having a ball; these two students were making her study and review her notes from her mastery classes.

Astrology was the only class that Harry didn't like, it only met once a week but at night and was boring to him. He would do the work but hated the looking through the telescope, the class seemed a waste of time as even the instructor couldn't explain why the class was required for 1st through 5th year students.

When it was three weeks before the final challenge Mad-Eye decided to have dueling matches within the classes. Mad-Eye had to do a lot of talking with McGonagall to get permission for these matches. Flitwick was asked to help out with the classes since he was a past dueling champion, and he was having a ball. Harry and Hermione took it upon themselves to help out the lower classes in Gryffindor to excel in DADA. Luna was doing the same thing in Ravenclaw and Flitwick was very supportive of her efforts. Slytherin was losing most of their matches and getting upset, Hufflepuff wasn't doing so well either.

Harry spent time teaching the others in the group more about Defense than they learned in class, he focused on spells and shields and left the "dark" creatures to Mad-Eye in class. All of the group got very good at repairing the dummies they used for target practice. Harry insisted that everyone be well acquainted with Expelliarmus to disarm an opponent and with Protego to shield themselves and others. When Harry demonstrated his Reducto eyes went up as the dummy was completely destroyed and had to be repaired several times. Harry even conjured targets so they could measure their power levels, Susan and Daphne were shocked to see the power demonstrated by the "Fatal Four" - Harry, Hermione, Neville, and Luna.

Harry discovered that Daphne hadn't been tested to see if her core was bound, it wasn't. Neville explained that the more you used your magic the more power you gained, just like building muscles more use yielded more strength. The stronger your body was the stronger your magic became or could control. At the mention of building muscles Hermione was reminded that she wanted to tone up her backside so it wouldn't be flabby like so many witches, and besides it would make her look better in jeans and swimwear for Harry.

The night before the final event the four challengers were called to meet with the judges to hear about what they would face the next day. It was explained that each student would have to enter a maze and the object of this contest was to survive and reach the middle to claim the TriWizard Cup and be proclaimed the winner. There would be many obstacles in the maze, some animal, some plant, and some spells or wards. The obstacles had to be overcome and or bypassed to reach their goal. The students would enter the maze according to their rank overall in the tournament so far, Harry would enter first followed by Cedric then Krum and finally Fleur at two minute intervals. There would be witches and wizards circling the maze on brooms should any trouble arise.

Originally the final task was to be in the late evening but had been changed to afternoon so the spectators would be able to see what was going on. Bagman made the announcement explaining what the task consisted of and the order the champions would enter, if any participant had a problem then all they had to do was shoot red sparks in the air and they would be picked up by the rovers on brooms. Harry entered the maze first and found out it had changed since the last time he overflew it, he also noted that it changed on its own in a random fashion. Harry smiled this was going to be a good challenge.

The first obstacle was a man-eating plant, it pulled back from the Incendio spell and Harry passed by it just as he heard Cedric enter the maze. Harry listened and heard each contestant enter while he negotiated the maze. The next challenge was a very large Blast-ended Skrewt, this one must have been enlarged by magic as he had never seen one so large. The fire from its end didn't phase Harry in the least. Harry heard Fleur scream and ever the gentleman Harry went to try and help her. He found Fleur entangled in the vines and being pulled in; a simple Incendio made the vines release the girl, but she was knocked out. Harry sent up the sparks and moved on.

Harry encountered several obstacles, some easy some not so easy. He had just bypassed a pool of quicksand when a spell shot past him just barely missing him. Looking around for the source Harry didn't see anything or anyone nearby. Then he felt a spell hit his back that was reflected by his armor, now this was getting serious that was a strong stunner. Harry decided to use his cloak and see if maybe the source would show itself. As soon as he was under the cloak he moved a few feet and watched, he saw a wand come out from the bushes and shoot a spell away from him, right at Cedric. Cedric fell and the wand user came out, it was Krum, but looked as if he was under someone's control. A quick stunner took care of Krum and Harry went to check Cedric.

A quick Rennervate got Cedric back on his feet and Harry suggested they continue through the maze to see who won for Hogwarts. The next obstacle was a Sphinx with a riddle, "The choices you have are these, answer my riddle correct and I let you pass, answer incorrect and I attack, or walk back the way you came and I do nothing" were the instructions. Harry hated riddles and he knew it would be hard to get the correct answer, but he didn't think he wanted to backtrack so he asked for the riddle.

**Thirty white horses on a red hill,  
First they champ,  
Then they stamp,  
Then they stand still.**

"What is your answer?" the Sphinx asked, "Or do you chose to go back the way you came like the last fellow?"

Harry thought for a few seconds then gave his answer as he prepared to fight. The Sphinx just smiled and told Harry to pass as he had answered correctly then asked how many more were to come by. Harry said he was the last as the other two had been eliminated. Harry ran on down the path, which kept changing.

Harry and Cedric came out at the same time and both could see the cup up a head of them. Suddenly there was a great wind and the hedges started to close in on them, Harry told Cedric to run and they would both grab the cup since either way Hogwarts won the tournament. The wind quit just as they got 20 feet from the cup, both boys walked up to the cup.

"On the count of three we each grasp a handle" Harry said and Cedric nodded.

On the third count both grasp a handle and were portkeyed away only to land not back at the start as expected but somewhere else. They were in a graveyard and there were many headstones about. There was an eerie and evil feeling here to Harry so he let go of the cup and prepared to fight. An unseen spell shot past Harry and missed both boys who turned to fight. Behind them they saw five people in black robes and white masks, Death Eaters. Harry told Cedric to grab the cup and leave but the boy refused to leave his schoolmate behind. "We both leave or we both fight; I've seen you duel and I'm not a slouch at it myself. So, lets get this over with" Cedric said as he cast Protego.

Harry didn't feel like playing with these people so he withdrew his staff and added his own shield as he prepared to fight with his Peaks wand in his left hand. Five stunners bounced off the shields and Cedric's shield failed. That was when Cedric was hit from behind and fell to the ground. Now Harry was pissed and started to glow only to see the five disappear into thin air. Harry nudged the cup over to Cedric's body and just as the cup touched a hand Harry saw Cedric's eyes move and he too disappeared along with the cup.

Back at Hogwarts things were getting to be a mess, first Fleur had been rescued due to sparks, then someone brought Krum in when they found him stunned in the maze. A gong sounded and Bagman said loudly that someone had grabbed the cup, but nobody appeared. Up in the stands Hermione was worried, where was Harry? He should have come out by now even if Cedric got the cup first. When Cedric appeared a little while later unconscious Hermione panicked and did something that was not supposed to be possible, she called Fawkes and Dobby to her and told both to find Harry as he might be in trouble, she grabbed Dobby just as he was about to pop away.

Hermione, Dobby, and Fawkes arrived to see Harry facing off against seven Death Eaters, "Dobby go get the others, Neville and Luna plus Sirius and bring them here now" Hermione shouted to the little elf who popped away. Pulling her staff Hermione advanced only to be confronted by two Death Eaters who both shot a sick green spell at her which she managed to dodge. Hermione responded with a very powerful Reducto which missed one but caught the other in passing in the shoulder, she now faced a one armed opponent and an intact one. The one armed man wasn't going anywhere anytime soon and he was bleeding out quickly. The second Death Eater saw the results of that spell and disappeared.

Harry had been surprised somehow and was stunned. He awoke to find himself tied to a gravestone and a Death Eater holding a form in a blanket. The Death Eater was trying to do some sort of ritual:

_Bone of the father, unknowingly given, you will renew your son!_

And a bone came out of the ground and was placed in a caldron.

_Flesh of the servant, willingly given, you will revive your master!_

And the man cut off his own hand and let said hand drop into the caldron. He then quickly sealed the stump with a spell.

_Blood of the enemy, forcibly taken, you will resurrect your foe!_

The man took the same knife he had used to cut off his own hand and tried to cut Harry's arm, but the knife wouldn't cut the skin. He tried the other arm and same thing no cut. He tried to stab an arm and the knife broke. Harry concentrated and the ropes binding him came loose, as Harry fell he called out one word **Firebeard**! A very large being of fire appeared and started to ask Harry a question when it was hit by a spell, that wasn't the thing to do to a fire elemental. As Firebeard started to roast anyone who sent a spell at him Harry called his wand and staff to him and prepared to fight. That was when Hermione arrived.

Hermione stepped to Harry's side and they took defensive positions back-to-back and engaged the Death Eaters. Harry paused just long enough to cast a ward to prevent anyone from leaving any time soon, even he and Hermione. That was when Harry discovered something he had wondered about, one of the foes shot a killing curse at him and it hit Firebeard who disappeared. Just then Neville, Luna, and Sirius arrived and joined the battle, much to the despair of the remaining Death Eaters. The remaining five Death Eaters didn't last long against four staffs and five wands, only three were alive when the fight was over.

Harry had not cast a single killing spell the whole time, he just used stunners, very powerful stunners, on his opponents. Sirius wasn't as kind to his foes. The aurors started to pop in only to bounce off the wards, until Harry canceled them. "I knew that ritual would come in handy" Harry told Hermione as he walked over to the caldron and fired a stunner at the thing in the blanket, a very weak stunner as he didn't want to kill. All of the bodies were taken away by the aurors, three to be questioned, two to the morgue, one to the hospital, and the thing in the blanket to the Department of Mysteries. Harry gave them a brief summery of what had happened and then asked Dobby to take him and his friends back to Hogwarts.

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**A/N: Want the answer to the riddle? Well, I'm not telling yet; but maybe later. Well the tournament is finished, what do you think about how I handled it?**

**Please be kind and comment**


	12. Chapter 12

**Hogwarts Year 4**

**Chapter 12**

Once everything settled down and everyone was back inside the castle, Harry gave a more detailed explanation of what had happened. "Cedric and I both grabbed the cup at the same time and were taken to a graveyard." he began "Once there we decided that it might be a good idea to be prepared since we expected to be back at the start of the maze. We were attacked by 7 or 8 people in black robes and white masks. Cedric and I were doing okay until one got behind us and got Cedric; I was able to push the cup into Cedric's hand and send him back. Somehow they got to me, maybe I wasn't as alert as I should have been. I woke up tied to a gravestone and one of the people was starting some kind of ritual to raise Voldemort, but the ritual didn't work for some reason. Somehow the ropes loosened I guess someone let me go when no one was watching closely and I was able to get my wand back, that was when Hermione arrived followed by Sirius, my friends, and shortly the aurors. The death eaters, except one, were either captured or killed. How many of those wankers are there anyway? I did hear one of them say something about Bagman's plan had really helped them after Crouch Jr. was captured." Harry explained.

At that point Sirius added more information, it turned out that Crouch Sr. had been found and he showed signs that he had been under the Imperio curse. The last thing the man remembered was talking to Ludo Bagman. Sirius wanted to speak with Bagman immediately, Flitwick told them that a couple of Goblins had taken Mr. Bagman, "Something about a fixed bet, I believe they said." It was announced that Cedric was the winner of the third task since he was the first to return, but Cedric said he and Harry both won so they would split the prize money. Sirius also relayed that the French were still very determined to get Dumbledore for trial on kidnapping charges.

The tournament was completed and the final results were Harry and Cedric tied for first place, Krum in second and Fleur came in last since she hadn't complete the last two events. Cedric insisted on splitting the prize money and Harry just gave his share to the fund for those students who needed help with educational expenses.

The nine met that night in the chamber and Harry said that he thought it was time to think about adding more people to the group, but as a second group. He wanted ideas as to who to include in this second group from the houses, but was very leery about any Slytherins, and didn't see adding seventh years since they would be gone in a few weeks when school let out. Harry also told the group what really happened and why the ritual didn't work, they couldn't get any of his blood to add to the caldron due to the skin-toughening ritual. This made the girls want to do the ritual again so they would be as tough as Harry; Harry told them to have Hermione take care of that for them as she knew the ritual, but to make sure they were completely nude this time except for the hair on their heads.

Harry went on to say that anyone who was suggested and accepted would be asked to go to Peaks with the group this summer, this got Daphne's attention. "What is Peaks?" Daphne asked.

"Peaks is a school in America that all of us have been to at least once. It is there that we learned all the advanced magic that you've seen us do. You would have been asked to join us this summer anyway since you are a member of this group. You get a year's worth of classes in a month's time since they use time compression. By the end of the summer you will already have taken your OWLs and know your scores. All of us are at least a year ahead of what we are taught here, except Hermione and myself – we are three years ahead. A few of us are going to be taking our masters level this summer in some subjects. We fly to America the muggle way since it is too far to apparate and international portkeys are expensive, besides everyone isn't qualified to apparate yet. There are a few things you will need to know about and a few things you will need to acquire before you go, one of the things you will need is a new wand that doesn't have the trace on it and is created especially for you. Most, if not all, of your supplies aren't available in Diagon Alley, without causing someone to notice, but are available in the States without problem. You will be in fifth year classes so you need to decide what you want to specialize in, if anything, so you can take the classes you really need. The first few weeks will be review and catch up as Peaks goes by international standards and not the ones here in England, which are much lower than international. We usually have about three weeks to prepare for the trip and I will get you an application as soon as I can. The cost is subsidized so it won't cost you the full amount for tuition, supplies, and travel, you will need to have your own spending money." Harry explained.

Daphne just stood there with a big smile on her face and said something to the fact that she would really let Malfoy have it next year, and Pansy too. Then she asked where she could get that special wand, and when, so she could start practicing at home. Daphne noticed everyone was looking at Harry, who had a "shit eating" grin on his face, "Well actually you would need to see a wand maker that isn't under the watchful eye of the Ministry of Magic; and I just happen to know of one real close by and he only charges G11 unless the wand is very hard to make and more than three core items. He is also able to make staffs, but they tend to be more expensive and he is very picky as who he makes a staff for."

Life settled down in the next few days,until the day Amelia showed up at Hogwarts to inform McGonagall that the French had finally been persuaded to not adjudicate Dumbledore, but he had been banned from French soil for life. Amelia also told them that Bagman had been located and had admitted he had been the one to put Harry's name in the Goblet of Fire in hopes of preventing the tournament from taking place due to many outstanding debts he owed. All of the Death Eaters had been identified, even the dead ones, and steps taken to keep them out of society for a long time. An investigation of the site that Harry and Cedric were taken to, showed it to belong to the extinct Riddle family, the fore-bearers of one Tom Riddle, a half-blood, who attended Hogwarts over fifty years ago. All of this news was overheard by Fawkes and reported to Harry. Many of the staff wondered why Fawkes was still around since he was supposedly bonded to Dumbledore and should have left to be with the old man.

Hermione spent a portion of her time instructing Daphne in the common household spells that she would be required to demonstrate at Peaks to get out of that class. Daphne even showed Hermione a spell that could be used to remove hair from delicate areas instead of the muggle way of using a razor. Once Hermione saw that spell she went into full spell-crafting mode and had to analyze it and improve it, which she did. Hermione got to test the spell on one of the Slytherin girls when she responded to a prank, the girl was suddenly hairless all over – except for a new mustache that appeared and refused to be removed for good portion of that day. Hermione had improved the spell and also invented a prank spell to go along with it, wait until the twins got a hold of that spell.

Defense classes were getting more interesting. Mad-Eye announced that the term final would be in two parts, one written and a practical. They would have two hours for the written and then they had to schedule a time to do the practical, and the practical would cover all spells up through their own year – this would be especially hard on the sixth years, seventh year students had NEWTs so no final in any of their classes. Luna was the first surprise for Moody as she had been taking fourth year classes all year and preformed at a fifth year level on the practical. The second surprise was when Moody scored Harry's written test and could not find a single wrong answer, Harry was the only person in the school to make a perfect score on the written, much to Hermione's chagrin, plus he blew the practical away.

The ICW sent a notice that no OWLs or NEWTs would be accepted from Hogwarts unless the test itself was ICW standardized and the answer sheets had to be sent to the certifying body to be regraded this was a real blow to Hogwarts and it's former standard of excellence. They would allow past scores to stand as posted but any further had to be the standardized test or no certification. This caused many students to worry about their upcoming tests, they had already been exposed to some of the standards and they were tough. McGonagall said all classes for the fifth and seventh years were canceled in that only review and catch up work was to be done in those classes.

The only subject Harry, or any of the group, had a problem with was Astronomy, they all passed but Harry just barely got an Acceptable on his test. McGonagall and Flitwick both had their "advanced" students take the certification exams, OWLs for Harry, Hermione, Neville, Luna, and Susan; while the twins had to take their NEWT level written exams. Ginny had to take the same exam as the regular fourth year students. Both professors weren't surprised that their "advanced" students passed the exams. Both professors wondered what kind of grades these students would get on the real exams next year.

The end of term feast was in two days and all the students were exhausted from end of term tests. The nine had not come up with anyone to invite to the group, except Ron who was suggested by both the twins, Ginny, and Daphne, who did like Ron once he settled down. Even Harry had to admit Ron had preformed well that year and had really applied himself in class. Ron had only pestered them a few times and it was always to ask if someone would explain something in a way he could understand it better, most of the time it was Daphne who did the explaining with help from Harry, Hermione, and Neville. It was decided to ask Ron to join them in the chamber that night and introduce him to it.

Ron was scared when he was told to meet his brothers in the bathroom after lights out, he was even more scared when he was met by not only the twins but Harry and Neville also, and they all had a very serious look on their faces. "Guys, I don't know what is wrong but I promise I didn't do it. I've kept my mouth shut all year and haven't said anything to anyone about your sneaking out or anything. Please don't kill me!" Ron cried. He started shaking when both twins took an arm and the next thing he knew he was in a cave somewhere standing on a red square. "Well come on Ronnie-kins, get off the landing zone before someone comes and kills us all" the twins said in twin speak.

Ron watched as Harry then Neville appeared on the square. Next was Hermione, Ginny, Luna, Susan, and Daphne to appear on the square. When Ron looked around he saw many snake statues and at one end of the cave he saw a huge statue of a man's head, Salazar Slytherin. "Ron we promised you if you got good grades and behaved in class we would reward you. Well, you did as asked so we are asking you to join our group as of tonight. If you accept that is great, but if you don't want to then you will have to be obliviated so you can't tell anyone what you see and hear here tonight." Hermione said most of Hermione's lecture was lost though as Ron passed out when a small spider coming down from the ceiling landing on his arm.

When Ron woke up he was staring into the green eyes of Daphne Greengrass who had a smile on her face, "Ron you really need to get over that fear of spiders before you hurt someone besides yourself. You passed out because a small harmless spider landed on your arm and you fell on top of your sister. Susan and Hermione healed her black eye so maybe she won't kill you. Now get up lazy bones and come with me to see the rest of the group" Daphne said and then kissed Ron on the head.

It didn't take much to convince Ron that it would be in his best interest to join the group after learning where he was and what went on there. The chance to learn more magic was too great, maybe he too could be at the top of a class. Besides, he would get to spend more time with Daphne and find out what that kiss was about. He also got to see Daphne receive her new wand and saw the results of the testing against the targets Hermione made, the new wand made a real difference in her scores. Ron even got to test his strength on the targets, it wasn't real great. The summer trip was explained and Ron was offered a "helping hand" with the money part by Daphne.

After a long and trying year it was time to go home for the summer, in a way Harry was sorry to leave Hogwarts, but not so sorry as to offer to stay all summer. The train ride back to London was crowded until Harry did a little rearranging so the ten could be more comfortable. Things were going fine until Draco Malfoy showed up again. Seeing eight wands pointed at him, and two up his nose, helped Draco to decide to keep his mouth shut, mostly. He just had to say something to Daphne about being a "blood traitor" and got Hermione's special hair removal spell for his trouble from Daphne. All was quiet after that.

The group was met by parents and guardians as usual, but once again Harry was surprised to his aunt there, and Dudley! Harry had to ask and was told by Petunia that Vernon was at home and wondering why he was alone and why there was a fire burning in the fireplace that he couldn't put out, even if it didn't produce heat. As everyone was being welcomed they heard a loud voice saying it would get even. Everyone on the platform, except two people, turned to look at the young bald boy who was very red faced and shouting, Draco Malfoy. Then the woman who was standing by him started to shout, "Who did you upset this time? Why is it you can't come home like the rest of the school, all in one piece? At least your wand is intact this time".

Sirius looked at Harry who just shook his head "NO" and pointed at Daphne and whispered "shaving charm all over". Sirius busted out laughing and was soon joined by half of the people on the platform. When Draco heard this he tried to pull his wand, only to fall over breaking it. Very few people noticed the two redheads putting their wands away and laughing at the boy. "You know Ollivander should give us a commission on all the wands he sells to that idiot" Hermione said between laughing bouts. Harry had to explain to Petunia and Dudley why everyone was laughing so hard. "Dudley, he was on the receiving end of a shaving charm, all over. He upset one of the girls and she showed her displeasure. Now you see why it isn't a good idea to upset women, especially witches" Harry explained.

Harry told Daphne that he would send the application to her the next day or so; Daphne asked if maybe he could send one for her sister also, Harry agreed. He then reminded her that she needed to explain to her parents before he sent the applications in to the school as they needed to sign them and possibly arrange for someone to go and sign last minute permission slips. It was Ron who introduced Daphne to his parents and invited her to call or come over sometime, but he was very red faced himself, especially when Daphne thanked him and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

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**A/N: Another year over with at Hogwarts and another summer to be planned and written. Yes, I'm going to include Ron in further adventures and he will be paired with Daphne. That shaving charm sure would be nice to know, just imagine not having to slice yourself up (and the fun you could have) in real life.**

**Please be kind and comment**


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